See Webb’s most beautiful image yet of the Pillars of Creation

By Georgina Torbet Published December 4, 2022

One of the most famous space images of all time is the Hubble Space Telescope’s image of the Pillars of Creation, originally taken in 1995 and revisited in 2014. This stunning structure of dust and gas is located in the Eagle Nebula and is remarkable both for its beauty and for the dynamic process of star formation going on within its clouds.

Earlier this year, the James Webb Space Telescope took its own images of this natural wonder, capturing images in both the near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths. Now, both of Webb’s images have been combined into one, showing a gorgeous new view of the famous structure.

The iconic Pillars of Creation from two cameras aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. — By combining images of the iconic Pillars of Creation from two cameras aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, the Universe has been framed in its infrared glory. Webb’s near-infrared image was fused with its mid-infrared image, setting this star-forming region ablaze with new details. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. DePasquale (STScI), A. Pagan (STScI), A. M. Koekemoer (STScI)

This image combines data from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). The near-infrared range shows up features like the many stars in the background and the newly forming stars which are visible as orange dots around the pillars of dust, while the mid-infrared range shows the layers of dust which are displayed in colors ranging from orange to indigo depending on their density.

Recommended Videos

Combining images taken at different wavelengths like this allows an image to display features that would otherwise be invisible. In Webb’s mid-infrared image of the pillars, for example, very few stars are visible, while the near-infrared can’t penetrate the deep layers of dust to show such detail.

The pillars’ dust makes them such a busy region of star formation, as new stars are created when dust forms into knots which gradually attract more material until they collapse under their own gravity and become protostars. More and more material is drawn into these cores, getting hot and hotter due to friction, until eventually, the protostar reaches a sufficiently high core temperature that it begins fusing hydrogen into helium, radiating out heat and light and becoming a main sequence star.

Topics

Tech News

Georgina Torbet

Space Writer

Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…

Space

James Webb takes rare direct image of a nearby super-Jupiter

Artist’s impression of a cold gas giant orbiting a red dwarf. Only a point of light is visible on the JWST/MIRI images. Nevertheless, the initial analysis suggests the presence of a gaseous planet that may have properties similar to Jupiter.

Even with huge ground-based observatories and the latest technology in space-based telescopes, it's still relatively rare for astronomers to take an image of an exoplanet. Planets outside our solar system are so far away and so small and dim compared to the stars they orbit that it's extremely difficult to study them directly. That's why most observations of exoplanets are made by studying their host stars. Now, though, the James Webb Space Telescope has directly imaged a gas giant -- and it's one of the coldest exoplanets observed so far.

The planet, named Epsilon Indi Ab, is located 12 light-years away and has an estimated temperature of just 35 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius). The fact it is so cool compared to most exoplanets meant that Webb's sensitive instruments were needed to study it.

Space

One half of this wild exoplanet reaches temperatures of 1,450 degrees Fahrenheit

webb wasp 39b dayside nightside stsci 01j2f12rm1s3n39yj938nhsf93 png

This artist’s concept shows what the exoplanet WASP-39 b could look like based on indirect transit observations from JWST and other space- and ground-based telescopes. Data collected by its NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) show variations between the morning and evening atmosphere of the planet. NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

One of the ground-breaking abilities of the James Webb Space Telescope is that researchers can use it to not only detect distant planets but also to peer into their atmosphere. Now, new research using Webb has uncovered differing conditions between morning and evening on a distant exoplanet, the first time such differences have been observed on a planet outside our solar system.

Space

Webb captures a Penguin and an Egg for its two-year anniversary

This “penguin party” is loud! The distorted spiral galaxy at center, the Penguin, and the compact elliptical galaxy at left, the Egg, are locked in an active embrace. A new near- and mid-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope, taken to mark its second year of science, shows that their interaction is marked by a faint upside-down U-shaped blue glow.

This “penguin party” is loud! The distorted spiral galaxy at center, called the Penguin, and the compact elliptical galaxy at left, called the Egg, are locked in an active embrace. A new near- and mid-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope, taken to mark its second year of science, shows that their interaction is marked by a faint upside-down U-shaped blue glow. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Today, July 12, marks two years since the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope were unveiled. In that time, Webb has discovered the most distant galaxies known, uncovered surprises about the early universe, peered into the atmospheres of distant planets, and produced a plethora of beautiful images of space.