James Webb Telescope unveils a new view of the Pillars of Creation

Almost 30 years ago the Pillars of Creation stunned the astronomy world when they were captured by NASA‘s famed Hubble Space Telescope.

Now a new generation can enjoy a fresh view of the haunting scene after the US space agency’s $10 billion (£7.4 billion) super space telescope James Webb imaged the same finger-like tendrils of gas and dust.

Resembling a ghostly hand, the Pillars of Creation are part of the Eagle Nebula – which is 6,500 light-years away from Earth – and are known for being a source of star formation.

This week NASA and the European Space Agency revealed another look at the pillars from the sharp eyes of Webb. 

The latest image was taken in mid-infrared light, which blocks out the brightness of stars so it only captures the flowing gas and dust. This provided a new way of experiencing and understanding the stunning formation.

Webb has instruments that see in different wavelengths of infrared. 

In October, experts released a Pillars of Creation image from the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), before following that up with an image from its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).

They have now put the images together to produce a haunting image that features the best of both views, showcasing glowing edges of dust where young stars are beginning to form. 

NIRCam reveals newly-formed stars in orange outside the pillars, while MRI showcases the layers of dust in the formation. 

‘This is one of the reasons why the region is overflowing with stars – dust is a major ingredient of star formation,’ NASA said. 

The glowing red fingertip on the second pillar suggests active star formation, but the stars are just babies – NASA estimates them to be only a few 100,000 years old. 

They take millions of years to fully form. 

‘By combining images of the iconic Pillars of Creation from two cameras aboard NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the universe has been framed in its infrared glory,’ the Webb team wrote.

They said it ‘set this star-forming region ablaze with new details’.

When knots of gas and dust with sufficient mass form in the pillars, they begin to collapse under their own gravitational attraction, slowly heat up, and eventually form new stars. 

‘Newly-formed stars are especially apparent at the edges of the top two pillars – they are practically bursting onto the scene,’ the Webb team said.

‘Almost everything you see in this scene is local. 

‘The distant universe is largely blocked from our view both by the interstellar medium, which is made up of sparse gas and dust located between the stars, and a thick dust lane in our Milky Way galaxy. 

‘As a result, the stars take centre stage in Webb’s view of the Pillars of Creation.’

The Pillars of Creation are located in the constellation Serpens. 

This contains a young hot star cluster, NGC6611, visible with modest back-garden telescopes, that is sculpting and illuminating the surrounding gas and dust, resulting in a huge hollowed-out cavity and pillars, each several light-years long.

The Hubble image from 1995 hinted at new stars being born within the pillars. Owing to obscuring dust, Hubble’s visible light picture was unable to see inside and prove that young stars were forming.

NASA then sent Hubble back for a second visit, allowing them to compare the two shots.

Astronomers noticed changes in a jet-like feature shooting away from one of the newborn stars within the pillars.

The jet grew 60 billion miles longer in the time between observations, suggesting material in the jet was traveling at a speed of about 450,000 miles per hour.