Looking a bit like the worms of Dune these structures are part of the Eagle Nebula M16. The famous Hubble Telescope beamed this picture from a place about 7000 light years away down to Earth. The pillar at the left is about a gigantic light year tall. Consisting of hydrogen and dust it is a place where new stars get born. Is this the spice of space?

The opposite is the Cat's Eye Nebula - jets and knots of gas caused by a dying star. Perhaps NGC 6543 is a double-star system, which would most easiest explain the complex forms of its surrounding nebula. In its agony the dying star is swinging around its gas veil for a last ecstatic dance.