The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating. As powerful starlight whittles away these cool cosmic mountains, the statuesque pillars that remain might be imagined as mythical beasts.

One of several striking dust pillars of the Eagle Nebula has been described as a gigantic alien fairy, and has been named “The Fairy of the Eagle Nebula”.

This fairy, however, is ten light years tall and spews radiation much hotter than common fire.

The famous photograph of the cloud was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Using that photograph, Jon has sculpted the Fairy, fully emerged from the dust pillar, holding a telescope in her hands, showing her astronomical roots.

This is a work in progress and will be installed in the Spring of 2008.