The James Webb Space Telescope continues to amaze the world. Researchers, enthusiasts and the curious are always fascinated by what his powerful tools are able to reveal to a human eye, unable to capture the wonders of the Universe. As in the case of the Pillars of Creation, which have come down to us with a quality never seen before.
Combining the images obtained by the two cameras on board the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, the famous conformation present in the Eagle Nebula has been framed in its different infrared magnitudes.
In fact, those in the near and mid-infrared have been merged, giving birth to a new incredible imagefull of new details of this famous star-forming region. As you can see in the attached photo, myriads of stars are scattered throughout the scene. To be left speechless.
Most stars occur mainly in near-infrared light, captured with the fundamental contribution of Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) mounted on the JMS extension. In addition, near-infrared light it also reveals thousands more newly formed starsthe orange and bright ones that are found just outside the Pillars.
Thanks to MIRI, the Mid infrared instrument of Webb, it is also possible to note a particular patch of orange interstellar dust, in the shape of a large V, at the top of the image. Other denser regions of dust are also captured in deep indigo hues, almost filling the interior of the impenetrable Pillars of Creation.
Indeed, as it is possible to notice, the interstellar dust is almost the main component of the Pillars, and it is indeed one of the reasons why this region is overflowing with stars. Dust is in fact an important, if not fundamental, ingredient for star formation.
When knots of gas and dust with sufficient mass form, they begin to collapse under their own gravitational pullslowly heating up and eventually forming the new stars (particularly evident at the edges of the two upper pillars).
All that remains is to admire the incredible image. If you want to watch it in full resolution, we recommend that you visit the ESA official site. You will be speechless.
Image Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. DePasquale (STScI), A. Pagan (STScI), AM Koekemoer (STScI); CC BY 4.0
