This is not a SFW instance. NSFW communities will be tagged, and efforts will be made to keep SFW communities clean, but proceed at your own comfort level.
6500 years is comparable to the time scales of planetary nebulae, so it may not even exist anymore. I seem to recall reading that there was a supernova near the pillars, which may have destroyed them. If this hypothesis is true, we should expect to see the destruction in about 1000 years.
Note that these simple calculations work because it is so close to us. As you get to distances comparable to the size of the observable universe, you have to start respecting GR to get the right answers.
Whenever I see photos like these I think “I wonder what it looks like now”
Because this is what it looked like 6,500 years ago.
6500 years is comparable to the time scales of planetary nebulae, so it may not even exist anymore. I seem to recall reading that there was a supernova near the pillars, which may have destroyed them. If this hypothesis is true, we should expect to see the destruction in about 1000 years.
Note that these simple calculations work because it is so close to us. As you get to distances comparable to the size of the observable universe, you have to start respecting GR to get the right answers.
That’s even more interesting. We really have no idea what is actually out there.