the pillars of creation nebula is 5 lightyears across. for scale, the distance between us and the next nearest star alpha centauri is 4 lightyears. so the nebula occupies a space spanning numerous star systems. it takes our own planet Neptune 165 years to orbit our sun and its only 4 light hours distant. with that said i would look for pixel sized deviations in the nebula after at least several centuries elapsed