Image collection of Pillars of Creation

Pillars of Creation (MIRI Image)

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s mid-infrared view of the Pillars of Creation strikes a chilling tone. Thousands of stars that exist in this region disappear and apparently endless layers of gas and dust become the most important thing.

The detection of dust by James Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is extremely important dust is a major component of star formation. Many stars are actively forming in these dense blue and gray pillars. When knots of gas and dust with enough mass form in these regions, they begin to fall down under their own gravitational attraction, slowly heat up, and eventually form new stars.

Although the stars appear missing, they aren’t. Stars typically do not discharge much mid-infrared light. Instead, they are easiest to detect in ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light. In this MIRI view, two types of stars can be identified. The stars at the end of the thick, dusty pillars have recently eroded the material surrounding them. They show up in red because their atmospheres are still enveloped in cloaks of dust. In contrast, blue tones indicate stars that are older and have shed most of their gas and dust.

Mid-infrared light also details dense regions of gas and dust. The red region toward the top, which forms a delicate V shape, is where the dust is both disseminate and cooler. And although it may seem like the scene clears toward the bottom left of this view, the darkest gray areas are where the densest and coolest regions of dust lie. Notice that there are many fewer stars and no background galaxies popping into view.

Mid-infrared data from James Webb will help researchers determine exactly how much dust is in this region and what it’s made of. These details will make models of the Pillars of Creation far more precise. Over time, we will begin to more clearly understand how stars form and burst out of these dusty clouds over millions of years.

Pillars of Creation (MIRI Compass Image)

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

This image of the Pillars of Creation, captured by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), shows compass arrows, a scale bar, and a color key for reference. It lies within the Eagle Nebula, which is also known as Messier 16 (M16).

The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. The relationship between north and east in the sky as seen below is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground as seen from above.

The scale bar is labeled in light-years, which is the distance that light travels in one Earth-year. It takes 2 years for light to travel a distance equal to the length of the scale bar. One light-year is equal to about 5.88 trillion miles(9.46 trillion kilometers). The field of view shown in this image is approximately 7 light-years across.

This image shows invisible mid-infrared wavelengths of light that have been translated into visible light colors. The color key shows which MIRI filters were used when collecting the light. The color of each filter name is the visible light color used to represent the infrared light that passes through that filter.

Pillars of Creation (Hubble and Webb Images Side by Side)

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Hubble Heritage Project (STScI, AURA)
Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope made the Pillars of Creation famous with its first image in 1995 but revisited the scene in 201 to reveal a sharper, wider view in visible light, shown above at left. A new, near-infrared-light view from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, at right, helps us peer through more of the dust in this star-forming region. The thick, dusty brown pillars are no longer as opaque, and many more red stars that are still forming come into view. While the pillars of gas and dust seem darker and less penetrable in Hubble’s view. But they appear more diaphanous in James Webb’s.

The background of this Hubble image is like a sunrise, beginning in yellows at the bottom, before transitioning to light green and deeper blues at the top. These colors highlight the thickness of the dust all around the pillars, which obscures many more stars in the overall region.

In contrast, the background light in James Webb’s image appears in blue hues, which highlights the hydrogen atoms, and reveals an abundance of stars spread across the scene. By penetrating the dusty pillars, Webb also allows us to identify stars that have recently – or are about to – burst free. Near-infrared light can penetrate thick dust clouds, allowing us to learn so much more about this incredible scene.

Both views show us what is happening locally. Although Hubble highlights many thick layers of dust and James Webb shows more of the stars, neither shows us the deeper universe. Dust blocks the view in Hubble’s image, but James Webb’s major role is played by the interstellar medium. It acts like thick smoke or fog, preventing us from peering into the deeper universe, where countless galaxies exist.

The pillars are a small region within the Eagle Nebula, a vast star-forming region 6,500 light years from Earth.

Pillars of Creation (NIRCam Compass Image)

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

This image of the Pillars of Creation, captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), shows compass arrows, a scale bar, and a color key for reference. It lies within the Eagle Nebula, which is also known as Messier 16 (M16).

This image shows near-infrared wavelengths of light that have been translated into visible-light colors. The color key shows which NIRCam filters were used when collecting the light. The color of each filter name is the visible light color used to represent the infrared light that passes through that filter.