Stunning Pillars of Creation in the Eye of the James Webb Telescope
The captured image shows thousands of stars twinkling around giant brown and orange plumes
Stars periodically launch hypersonic projectiles and collide with clouds of material such as these dense plumes (AFP)
On Wednesday, October 19, the first image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope revealed the "pillars of creation" that form huge columns of gas and dust teeming with stars in the process of formation.
The image shows thousands of twinkling stars surrounding giant brown and orange plumes in the vast universe.
The picture also shows very red parts at the end of several columns that look like lava.
In the Eagle Nebula
And the US space agency, "NASA", explained in a statement that this scene represents "star launchers in the process of formation" dating back only a few hundred thousand years, adding that "these stars periodically release hypersonic projectiles and collide with clouds of material such as these dense columns."
The "Pillars of Creation" are located in the Milky Way, at a distance of 6,500 light-years from Earth, specifically in the "Eagle Nebula".
It became known thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope, which took its first image in 1995 and then in 2014.
But thanks to its instruments that capture infrared light, "James Webb", which was launched into space less than a year ago, can penetrate the murky columns to reveal a large number of new stars forming and appearing as bright red balls.
Klaus Pontopedan, director of the science program at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which oversees James Webb, tweeted Wednesday, saying, "We had, at a collective request, to have (James Webb) take pictures of (the pillars of creation)," adding that the image Shows "a large number of stars".
Close to the life of the stars
"The universe is amazing," said NASA astrophysicist Amber Stron.
And the tool "Near Cam", which can capture near-infrared rays that are not visible to the naked eye, took this image, which covers an area about eight light-years away, and in this way "translated" the image's colors into visible light.
And "NASA" indicated that the new image "will help researchers to review their models of star formation, by determining a more accurate number of newly formed stars, in addition to the amount of gas and dust in this region."
James Webb, who revealed his first color photos in July, is located about 1.5 million kilometers from the planet.
Among the main objectives of the telescope, which cost ten billion dollars, is to study the life cycle of stars, in addition to studying exoplanets, that is, those outside the solar system.
Source: websites