The glittering spires of cosmic dust and gas at the heart of the Eagle Nebula have been awe-inspiring for decades since they were first captured by Hubble. Now NASA released the most detailed visualization of the iconic celestial structure, revealing all its dreamlike features at different wavelengths of light.
Using data from the Hubble and Webb Space Telescopes, NASA astrophysicists have pieced together an unprecedented journey through the Pillars of Creation, traversing the three-dimensional structure and revealing the clouds of dust and embedded stars that make up its finger-like features. 3D visualization is based on observational data for paper published in Meteorological and planetary science magazine.
The 2.5-minute video allows viewers to experience the Pillars of Creation in visible light, as captured by Hubble, and in infrared light, as captured by Webb. “By flying around and between the columns, viewers will experience their three-dimensional structure and see how they differ from Hubble’s visible-light view versus Webb’s infrared view,” said Frank Summers, chief visualization scientist who led the film’s development team. for the NASA Universe of Learning, he said in a statement. “The contrast helps them understand why we have more than one space telescope to observe different aspects of the same object.”
Hubble sees objects that glow in visible light at higher temperatures. Webb’s infrared vision, on the other hand, is sensitive to cooler objects with temperatures of only hundreds of degrees. As a result, Webb is able to break through the obscuring dust to see the stars embedded in the pillars. Hubble views columns of dark brown, opaque dust and bright yellow ionized gas against a green-blue background, while Webb’s image contains orange and orange-brown dust that is almost transparent with pale blue ionized gas against a dark blue background.
The visualization also highlights several stages of star formation. Nested at the top of the central column is a small protostar glowing bright red in infrared light. Then a diagonal stream of material ejected from the newborn star is seen in the upper left column. The jet suggests that a star is being born, even if we can’t see the star itself. Finally, at the end of one of the protruding fingers of the left column, a brand new star is blazing.
The Pillars of Creation spans roughly 4 to 5 light-years, a relatively small feature of the massive Eagle Nebula, which spans 70 x 55 light-years. The nebula is located 7,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Serpents, but it is so bright that it can be seen even with a small telescope. Meanwhile, his pillars were first made famous by Hubble in 1995 with a stunning debut that remains one of the most iconic astronomical images of all time.
“When we combine observations from NASA’s space telescopes at different wavelengths of light, we will expand our understanding of the universe,” said Mark Clampin, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA. “The Pillars of Creation region continues to provide us with new insights that advance our understanding of how stars form. Now with this new visualization, everyone can experience this rich and captivating landscape in a new way.”
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