The image above shows massive stars slowly destroying the pillars of dust and gas from which they are born in the star formation region R44 in the Carina Nebula.

At a Glance

Images captured by the European Space Observatory show "pillars of destruction" as stars destroy the region in which they were born. The structures are in contrast to the iconic Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula. Researchers are still learning the intricacies of the feedback mechanisms between the stars and pillars.

Stars violently destroy their birthplace in a burst of vibrant color, as images captured by the MUSE instrument on the European Space Observatory’s Very Large Telescope have shown. The burst created what scientists have dubbed the "pillars of destruction."

According to a release from ESO, in the Carina Nebula, a hub of star formation about 7,500 light-years away. Though similar to the structures found in the Pillars of Creation, these pillars were created out of a very different nature.

ESO PhD student Anna McLeod led the team that observed the pillars. Their findings were .

"What is so fascinating about these images is that they might not be as sharp as those obtained with Hubble, but across pretty much the entire visible wavelength range, making this an extremely rich dataset," McLeod told FoxNews.com.

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One of the consequences of a massive star’s formation is that it starts destroying the cloud in which it was born.

Such stars typically expel huge amounts of radiation, which has enough energy to strip atoms of their electrons, according to the release. This process is known as photoevaporation, and it causes gas to dissolve into ions and disperse. By examining the results from the evaporation, the researchers determined that there was a clear correlation between how much ionizing radiation was being emitted in nearby stars and the evaporation of the pillars.

While the pillars appear to be dense, the clouds of dust and gas forming the nebula are actually very sparse, the release also said. There’s a possibility that radiation and stellar winds from massive stars actually help to fortify denser spots within the pillars, allowing them to be ableto form stars, the ESO release added.

Though the idea of massive stars destroying their own birthplaces sounds chaotic, the intricacies of the stars and pillars' relationship are still not fully understood.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Nebulae

The Cat’s Paw Nebula in a combination of exposures from the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope and expert amateur astronomers Robert Gendler and Ryan M. Hannahoe. The distinctive shape of the nebula is revealed in reddish puffy clouds of glowing gas against a dark sky dotted with stars. (ESO)