The Pillars of Creation are large towers of gas and dust where stars are born, and the James Webb Space Telescope has peered through the clouds to see the young stars.

Space 19 October 2022

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The Pillars of Creation as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope

The Pillars of Creation are seen by a telescope.

J. DePasquale, A. Koekemoer, and A. Pagan are all part of the NASA team.

The Pillars of Creation are 6000 light years away in the Eagle Nebula, but thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope, we can now see them. The stars are visible in the images from the Hubble Space Telescope and the images from the JWST.

The dust can be seen through the telescope because it observes in the same wavelength of light as Hubble. Young stars that have just formed or are still forming can be seen through the clouds of dust and gas.

Many of the stars in this image were formed within the pillars and then blew away their surrounding gas. The bright stars are surrounded by eight spikes of light, which are caused by the star light bouncing off the edges of the mirrors.

Read more: JWST has spotted bizarre rings of dust around a dying star

The dark lines at the edges of the clouds are from younger stars. When the stars are still forming, they blow out the jets ofplasma.

It is possible to learn more about the process of star formation by observing these young stars. It could help us understand what happens when stars form in a region like this.

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  • stars
  • James Webb space telescope