Hollywood couldn’t have done a better job dramatically lighting this pillar of gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004. All credit here belongs to the cosmos, though—specifically a cluster of hot young stars (off-screen) silhouetting the pillar and eroding it slowly from above with torrents of ultraviolet light. The darkest, densest areas of the pillar are likely acting as a cocoon for future stars that are waiting for their moment to break out and shine.