The glittering towers of cosmic dust and gas at the heart of the Eagle Nebula have inspired awe for decades, since they were first imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. Now NASA released the most detailed visualization of the iconic celestial structure, revealing all its dreamy features in multiple wavelengths of light.
Using data from the Hubble and Webb Space Telescopes, NASA astrophysicists have created an unprecedented journey through the Pillars of Creation, traveling through the three-dimensional structure and revealing the dust clouds and embedded stars that make up the finger-like features. The 3D visualization is based on observational data from a paper published in Meteorite and Planetary Sciences diary.
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 the Webb. “Flying past and among the columns, viewers experience their three-dimensional structure and see how they look different in Hubble’s visible light view versus Webb’s infrared view,” Frank Summers, chief visualization scientist who led the film development team for NASA’s training universe, it 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.”
The Hubble telescope 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 was able to break through the obscuring dust to see stars embedded in the pillars. Hubble sees the pillars with dark brown, opaque dust and bright yellow ionized gas on a greenish-blue background, while Webb’s image includes orange and orange-brown dust that is almost transparent with light blue ionized gas on a dark blue background.
The visualization also highlights several stages of star formation. At the top of the central column is a young protostar embedded, glowing bright red in infrared light. A diagonal jet of material ejected from a newborn star can then be seen near the top of the left pillar. The jet shows that a star has been born, even though we can’t see the star itself. Finally, a blazing, brand new star shines toward the end of one of the left pillar’s protruding fingers.
The Pillars of creation span roughly 4 to 5 light-years, a relatively small fraction of the massive Eagle Nebula, which spans 70 by 55 light-years. The nebula is located 7,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Ophiuchus, but is so bright that it can be seen with a small telescope. Meanwhile, his pillars were first made known 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 of different wavelengths of light, we expand our understanding of the universe,” Mark Clampin, director of NASA’s Astrophysics Division, said in a statement. “The Pillars of Creation region continues to offer us new insights that advance our understanding of how stars form. Now, with this new visualization, everyone can experience this rich, captivating landscape in a new way.”
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