The shimmering tower of cosmic dust and gas at the center of the Eagle Nebula has inspired awe for decades, ever since it was first photographed by the Hubble Telescope. Now, NASA release It’s the most detailed visualization of the iconic celestial structure yet, revealing all of its dreamy features across multiple wavelengths of light.
Using data from the Hubble and Webb Space Telescopes, NASA astrophysicists have weaved together an unprecedented journey across the Pillars of Creation, traveling through its three-dimensional structure to reveal dust clouds and embedded stars that form finger-like features. This 3D visualization shows: paper Published in Meteorites and planetary science journal.
The 2.5-minute video allows viewers to experience the Pillars of Creation in both visible light captured by Hubble and infrared light captured by Webb. “By flying between the pillars, viewers experience the pillars’ three-dimensional structure and see what they look like in Hubble’s visible light view and Webb’s infrared view,” Frank Summers, principal visualization scientist who led NASA’s Universe of Learning video development team, said in a statement. “This contrast helps us understand why we need multiple space telescopes to observe different aspects of the same object.”
The Hubble telescope sees hot objects that glow in visible light, while Webb’s infrared vision is sensitive to cooler objects that are only a few hundred degrees hot. As a result, Webb can see through the inconspicuous dust to see the stars embedded in the pillars. Hubble sees the pillars as dark brown opaque dust and bright yellow ionized gas against a greenish-blue background, while Webb’s image shows nearly transparent orange and orange-brown dust and light blue ionized gas against a dark blue background.
The visualization also highlights several stages of star formation. At the top of the central pillar is an embedded, infant protostar that glows bright red in the infrared. Then, an oblique jet of material ejected from the newborn star is visible near the top of the left pillar. The jet indicates a born star, but the star itself is not visible. Finally, a blazing new star shines toward the tip of the left pillar’s protruding finger.
of Pillars of Creation It spans about 4-5 light years, making it a relatively small feature of the enormous Eagle Nebula, which is 70 light years by 55 light years in size. The nebula is located 7,000 light years from Earth in the constellation Serpens, but is so bright that it can be seen with a small telescope. Made famous by Hubble in 1995 It was a stunning debut that remains one of the most iconic astronomy photographs of all time.
“Combining observations of different wavelengths of light from NASA’s space telescopes expands our understanding of the universe,” Mark Crumpen, director of NASA’s Astrophysics Division, said in a statement. “The Pillars of Creation region continues to provide us with new insights that deepen our understanding of star formation, and now this new visualization allows everyone to experience this rich, fascinating landscape in a new way.”
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