How It Started, How It’s Going: NASA Releases New Space Telescope Photo of ‘Pillars of Creation’ Nebula, Star Nursery

(NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI))

Comparing old Hubble observatory pictures with ones from the brand-new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a bit like contrasting grainy VHS tape with crisp, laser-sharp 4K. NASA just released this show-stopping new nebula photo, adorned with countless baby stars sparkling like cosmic Christmas decorations, and it’s enough to make your knees wobble.

The Pillars of Creation nebula, captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, which launched on Christmas Day in 2021. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)).

The original iconic shot of the newly forming stars and elongated nebula structure, called the Pillars of Creation, was first captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995. That same telescope later revisited the formation in 2014. Many other observatories have also stared deeply at this nebula.

NASA’s recent shots of this star nursery reveal a level of detail never seen before. The JWST, using its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument, zoomed in on a small section of the vast Eagle Nebula, located some 6,500 light years away, where knots of dust and gas have pulled together, compelled by the force of their own gravity, heated up, and begun the early stages of forming new stars.

Stretched out like long, gnarly fingers, these accumulations of gas and space dust are the most notable features of the Pillars of Creation. Just beyond their reach, infant stars display diffraction spikes, looking like trillions of glittering diamonds from afar.

Looking closely at the majestic, rock-like formations of the Pillars, you can see wave-like undulations flowing outward from them, which, according to NASA, result from jets of gas being ejected from protostars being born within. This can sometimes cause wavy patterns that look like the wake of a boat traveling through the water. The brightly-glowing crimson masses inside these dusty pillars are caused by energetic hydrogen molecules resulting from these jets. These new young stars are estimated to be only a few hundred thousand years old. Only indeed.

(L) The Pillars of Creation nebula captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995; (R) The Pillars of Creation nebula captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in 2022. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)).

The penetrating sensors of the JWST’s NIRCam seem to see right through the nebula, as though it was almost transparent, yet nowhere in this picture can be seen distant galaxies beyond our Milky Way. The tightly cropped view focuses on the densest part of our galaxy where translucent gas and dust called interstellar medium obscure more distant regions of the universe.

The heightened precision of JWST’s new picture of the Pillars of Creation will help researchers to revamp their models of star formation, allowing them to count more precisely the number of stars inside this cosmic nursery, and measure the quantity of gas and dust in its vicinity. “Over time, [these data] will begin to build a clearer understanding of how stars form and burst out of these dusty clouds over millions of years,” NASA said.

https://youtu.be/1__KBHIo_xs

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