The James Webb Telescope provides an even sharper view of the Pillars of Creation
The James Webb Telescope has captured a new, much sharper image of the iconic nebula formation pillars of creation, or the pillars of creation. The image is much more detailed than the last image taken by the Hubble telescope in 2014.
The Pillars of Creation are known as one of the most impressive phenomena in space. The general public first became aware of the phenomenon in 1995 when Hubble created an image of it.
The enchanting image of huge pillars in which young stars are born went around the world. In this first shot, the pillars still looked massive, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, they are clouds of gas and dust that form the so-called Eagle Nebula in the constellation Serpents, about 6,500 light-years from Earth.
Even more stars
In 2014, the Hubble telescope captured an even sharper image of the nebula formation. A photo of it can be seen above left. At right is the latest image taken by the James Webb telescope using infrared light. The outlines of the pillars are now more visible and transparent. There are also more stars to watch.
NASA explains what the natural phenomenon is based on the new image in this video:
Visit the Pillars of Creation from the Webb Telescope
The bright red orbs at the edges of the pillars — clearly visible at the top of the center and right pillars — are young stars, NASA says. These are huge spheres of gas and dust that collapsed under their own gravity and slowly heated up.
The almost lava-like brownish-red waves at the edges are new to the image. NASA estimates that these “ejects from stars still forming in the gas” are only a few hundred thousand years old. This is relatively young compared to the other dust columns, which are several million years old.
The new images will allow astronomers to update their models of how new stars form. They can also count and determine the number of newly formed stars much more accurately.
James Webb
The James Webb telescope, which was launched at the end of last year, has been observing the cosmos with infrared sensors since this summer. The telescope cost almost 10 billion euros and is the successor to Hubble. Scientists hope to use it to discover the first galaxies to learn more about the Big Bang, the origin of the universe.
How the James Webb Space Telescope works:
Source: NOS
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