Haunting Portrait: Webb Reveals Dust and Structure in Pillars of Creation
This is not an ethereal landscape of time-forgotten tombs. Nor are these soot-tinged fingers reaching out. These pillars, flush with gas and dust, ‘enshroud’ stars that are slowly forming over many millennia. The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has snapped this eerie, extremely dusty view of the Pillars of Creation in mid-infrared light — showing us a new view of a familiar landscape.
Why does mid-infrared light evoke such a sombre, chilling mood in Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) image? Interstellar dust cloaks the scene. And while mid-infrared light specialises in detailing where dust is, the stars aren’t bright enough at these wavelengths to appear. Instead, these looming, leaden-hued pillars of gas and dust gleam at their edges, hinting at the activity within.
Thousands and thousands of stars have formed in this region. This is made plain when examining Webb’s recent Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image of this object. In MIRI’s view, the majority of the stars are missing. Why? Many newly formed stars are no longer surrounded by enough dust to be detected in mid-infrared light. So MIRI is only able to see those young stars that have not yet cast off their dusty ‘cloaks’. These are the crimson orbs toward the fringes of the pillars. In contrast, the blue stars that dot the scene are ageing, which means they have shed most of their layers of gas and dust.
Mid-infrared light excels at revealing gas and dust in extreme detail. This is also unmistakable throughout the background. The densest areas of dust are the darkest shades of grey. The red region toward the top, which forms an uncanny V, like an owl with outstretched wings, is where the dust is diffuse and cooler. Notice that no background galaxies make an appearance — the interstellar medium in the densest part of the Milky Way’s disc is too swollen with gas and dust to allow their distant light to penetrate.
How vast is this landscape? Trace the topmost pillar, landing on the bright red star jutting out of its lower edge like a broomstick. This star and its dusty shroud are larger than the size of our entire Solar System.
This scene was first imaged by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, and again in 2014, but many other world-class observatories have also stared deeply at this region, such as ESA's Herschel Telescope. Each advanced instrument offers researchers tantalising new details about this region, which is practically overflowing with stars. With every observation, astronomers gain new information, and through their ongoing research build a deeper understanding of this star-forming region. Each newly imaged wavelength of light and each new instrument delivers ever more precise information about the gas, dust and stars, which informs researchers’ models of how stars form. As a result of the new MIRI image, astronomers now have data in mid-infrared light at higher resolution than ever before, and will analyse its far more precise dust measurements to create a more complete three-dimensional landscape of this distant region.
The Pillars of Creation lie within the vast Eagle Nebula, which is 6500 light-years away.
Pillars of Creation (MIRI Image)
The NASA/ESA/CSA 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 from view — and seemingly endless layers of gas and dust become the centrepiece.
The detection of dust by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is extremely important — dust is a major ingredient for star formation. Many stars are actively forming in these dense blue-grey pillars. When knots of gas and dust with sufficient mass form in these regions, they begin to collapse under their own gravitational attraction, slowly heat up, and eventually form new stars.
Although the stars appear to be missing, they aren’t. Stars typically do not emit 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 most of the more distant material surrounding them but they can be seen in mid-infrared light because they are still surrounded by 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 diffuse and cooler. And although it may seem like the scene clears toward the bottom left of this view, the darkest grey areas are where densest and coolest regions of dust lie. Notice that there are many fewer stars and no background galaxies popping into view.
Webb’s mid-infrared data 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 understand more clearly how stars form and burst out of these dusty clouds over millions of years.
Contrast this view with Webb’s near-infrared light image.
MIRI was contributed by ESA and NASA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona.
[Image Description: Semi-opaque layers of blue and grey gas and dust start at the bottom left and rise toward the top right. There are three prominent pillars. The left pillar is the largest and widest. The peaks of the second and third pillars are set off in darker shades of blue outlines. Few red stars appear within the pillars. Some blue and white stars dot the overall scene.]
Credit:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. DePasquale (STScI), A. Pagan (STScI)
Pillars of Creation (MIRI Image - Annotated)
This image of the Pillars of Creation, captured by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), shows compass arrows, a scale bar, and a colour key for reference. The Pillars of Creation lie 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. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to the direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above).
The scale bar is labelled 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 9.46 trillion kilometres. 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 colours. The colour key shows which MIRI filters were used when collecting the light. The colour of each filter name is the visible light colour used to represent the infrared light that passes through that filter.
MIRI was contributed by ESA and NASA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona.
[Image Description: Titled James Webb Space Telescope, Pillars of Creation, M16. Graphic elements added to the image are compass arrows, scale bar, and colour key. Below the image is a colour key showing which MIRI filters were used to create the image and which visible-light colour is assigned to each filter.]
Credit:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; J. DePasquale (STScI), A. Pagan (STScI)
VIDEOS
Pan of the Webb’s Portrait of the Pillars of Creation (MIRI)
The NASA/ESA/CSA 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 from view — and seemingly endless layers of gas and dust become the centrepiece.
The detection of dust by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is extremely important — dust is a major ingredient for star formation. Many stars are actively forming in these dense blue-grey pillars. When knots of gas and dust with sufficient mass form in these regions, they begin to collapse under their own gravitational attraction, slowly heat up, and eventually form new stars.
Although the stars appear to be missing, they aren’t. Stars typically do not emit 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 most of the more distant material surrounding them but they can be seen in mid-infrared light because they are still surrounded by 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 diffuse and cooler. And although it may seem like the scene clears toward the bottom left of this view, the darkest grey areas are where densest and coolest regions of dust lie. Notice that there are many fewer stars and no background galaxies popping into view.
Webb’s mid-infrared data 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 understand more clearly how stars form and burst out of these dusty clouds over millions of years.
The pillars are a small region within the Eagle Nebula, a vast star-forming region 6,500 light-years from Earth.
MIRI was contributed by ESA and NASA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona.
Credit:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. DePasquale (STScI), A. Pagan (STScI), N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb)
Music: Stellardrone – Twilight
Hubble and Webb Showcase the Pillars of Creation
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope made the Pillars of Creation famous with its first image in 1995, but revisited the scene in 2014 to reveal a sharper, wider view in visible light.
A new, near-infrared-light view from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam instrument, 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. Learn more about this image here.
Thirdly, a new image from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) showcases the interstellar dust cloaks. And while mid-infrared light specialises in detailing where dust is, the stars aren’t bright enough at these wavelengths to appear. Instead, these looming, leaden-hued pillars of gas and dust gleam at their edges, hinting at the activity within. Learn more about this image here.
The pillars are a small region within the Eagle Nebula, a vast star-forming region 6,500 light-years from Earth.
Credit:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; J. DePasquale (STScI), A. Pagan (STScI), A. Koekemoer (STScI), N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb)
Music: Mylonite - Breath of my Soul
Webb’s Instruments Showcase the Pillars of Creation
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has revealed two new views of the Pillars of Creation, which was made famous by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, and again in 2014.
The first image shown is Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image, where newly formed protostars are the scene-stealers. These are the bright red orbs that typically have diffraction spikes and lie outside one of the dusty pillars. Learn more about this image here.
The second image shown is Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) image. Interstellar dust cloaks the scene. And while mid-infrared light specialises in detailing where dust is, the stars aren’t bright enough at these wavelengths to appear. Instead, these looming, leaden-hued pillars of gas and dust gleam at their edges, hinting at the activity within. Learn more about this image here.
The pillars are a small region within the Eagle Nebula, a vast star-forming region 6,500 light-years from Earth.
Credit:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; J. DePasquale (STScI), A. Pagan (STScI), A. Koekemoer (STScI), N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb)
Music: Mylonite - Breath of my Soul
Fuente: ESA/Hubble/Webb Information Centre
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