What Webb's ethereal nebula photo tells us that Hubble couldn't

Imagine looking up in the Sistine Chapel, which is 6,500 light years away.

The "Pillars of Creation" are theAstronomers call this part of the Eagle Nebula. The name is said to come from a 19th century sermon on the condescension of Christ. The pastor talked about the dichotomy of a powerful God who created everything and a delicate baby.

The cloud of gas and dust in space is very similar to Michelangelo's Creation ofAdam. The fresco shows a man grasping at his place in the sky.

The Hubble Space Telescope made this area famous. It can be seen through the eyes of its counterpart in space. The plaster-smooth sweeps of the wrist, palm, and fingers are chiseled away in the new image. At the same time, the depiction is very realistic.

NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency collaborated on the telescope that shows the Pillars of Creation in near-infrared light. The yellow features are made from small dust grains made of carbon and hydrogen. When ultraviolet light shines on them, they illuminate as a thin drape over the cloud, transforming it into a three-dimensional object.

Klaus Pontoppidan, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, said during a news conference in July that it was almost like a blanket.

Sign up for more science and tech news. If you sign up for the newsletter, you'll get top stories.

Left: The Hubble Space Telescope shows the Pillars of Creation in optical light. Credit: NASA / ESA

Right: The James Webb Space Telescope shows the Pillars of Creation in the infrared. Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STSI

Since the telescope launched into space nine months ago, NASA has promised it wouldunlock the universe for humankind with its piercing vision and cutting-edge instruments It's expected to lead to unimaginable discoveries.

The first stars and galaxies were formed shortly after the beginning of the universe. Astrophysicists claim that the light of the first galaxies is still burning despite the expanding universe. Human eyes can't see light that's in the form of IR. The objects can pop into focus with the help of the mirrors.

Tweet may have been deleted

(opens in a new tab)

Gnther Hasinger, science director for the European Space Agency, used the Pillars of Creation as an example of how the IR would reveal stars, gas, and dust hidden from sight.

He said that James Webb would be more sensitive than Hubble.

New stars are poking out around the edges of the cloud as red orbs. Young stars cause the blushing red areas on the fingertips. They get that color from energetic hydrogen.

Left: Michelangelo's Creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel. Credit: Lucas Schifres / Getty Images

Right: The James Webb Space Telescope's view of the Pillars of Creation Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STSI

Scientists will be able to gather more precise counts of stars in their infancy thanks to the new diaphanous view of the universe. Researchers will be able to better understand how stars shed their dust clouds.

The scientists are interested in using the technology to study the hydrocarbons. They could hold secrets to life in the universe.

Pontoppidan said that this may be the way that the universe transports carbon to planets that may be suitable for life.

Adam gets the "spark of God" in Michelangelo's work. It's in the sky that it starts.