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pillars of erosion.

The relentless action of winds slowly carve away at the environment, leaving behind sculptures from erosion. Microchip fabrication uses particle beams to erode material and create structures on the surface. Prolonged wind erosion in deserts leaves behind columns of dense rock. Winds from bright stars blow away their surroundings to unveil dense regions of gas from which stars are forming.

Learn more about Erosion.

Watch a video: Pillars of Erosion.

More information about pillars in the Eagle Nebula.

Images: Spectroscopy chip - University of California, Santa Cruz/H. Schmidt; Desert - Stock Photography; Gas Pillars in the Eagle Nebula (M16) - NASA, ESA, STScI, J. Hester and P. Scowen (Arizona State University)

seeding the environment.

The actions that facilitate new growth and evolution come in many stages. Bees distribute pollen, promoting reproduction in plants. Farmers seed and fertilize soil, enabling growth of selected plants. Supernova explosions distribute iron, oxygen, and other heavy elements necessary for the ultimate formation of planets and their contents.

Learn more about Seeding.

Watch a video: Seeding the Environment.

More information about Supernova G292.

Images: Bee - Stock Photography; Farming - Homestead Gardens/R.Calvert; G292.0+1.8 - X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State/S.Park et al.; Optical: Pal.Obs. DSS

From rotation to Outflows.

Creatively twisting her body back and forth, a dog shakes off the water from a recent soaking. This use of rotational energy to produce outflows can be seen on farms, where windmills pump water to surrounding fields, and deep in space where rapidly-rotating, highly magnetic neutron stars generate outflows of energetic particles.

More information about Crab Nebula pulsar.

Images: Dog - Stock Photography; Windmill - Stock Photography; Crab Nebula - NASA/CXC/SAO/F.Seward et al.

Explosive eruptions.

As heat is injected from below, pressure builds. Pockets of high pressure eventually erupt, in the form of splattering chili on a camp stove, massive eruptions from volcanos, and energetic eruptions powered by jets that form from material falling into massive black holes.

More information about active galaxy M87.

Images: Boiling pot - Stock Photography; Volcano - Stock Photography; M87 - X-ray (NASA/CXC/KIPAC/N. Werner, E. Million et al); Radio (NRAO/AUI/NSF/F. Owen)

Spirals in Nature.

The common spiral shape immediately brings to view the action of rotation. Water winds its way down the drain in a sink. Moist air spirals its way into the low-pressure center of a hurricane. Even the rotation of a galaxy imprints its structure in the form of dense spiral arms that trace regions of star formation.

Read our blog post: Hurricane Sandy from an HTE Perspective.

Watch a video: Spirals in Nature.

More information about Pinwheel galaxy.

Printable Poster Spirals Poster.

Images: Water draining - Stock Photography; Hurricane - NOAA; M101 - X-ray: NASA/CXC/JHU/K.Kuntz et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/JHU/K. Kuntz et al; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech/STScI/K. Gordon

Bubbles Large and Small.

A gentle breath of air into a soap film creates a majestic bubble. In space, more ferocious winds from an energetic star create a large bubble in the surrounding interstellar matter. Larger still are the huge bubbles created as jets from matter falling onto a huge black hole expand into the material in a galaxy cluster.

More information about Galaxy clusters MS0735.6+7421.

Images: Bubble - Mila Zinkova; NGC 7635 - Russell Croman; Ms 0735.6+7421 - NASA/CXC/Univ. Waterloo/B.McNamara