James Webb Telescope: Stunning Images of the “Pillars of Creation”

James Webb Telescope: Stunning Images of the “Pillars of Creation”
  • Jonathan Amos
  • BBC science reporter

collage with two photos

attributed to him, STSCI

Illustrative image,

Images from Hubble (left) and Webb (right): New telescope’s infrared detectors can see beyond plume dust

One of the most beautiful views of the universe has been revisited by the James Webb Space Super Telescope.

The so-called “pillars of creation” are dense clouds of hydrogen gas and dust in the constellation Serpent, 6,500 light-years from Earth.

This scene has already been photographed by other large telescopes. The most famous of these images are those taken in 1995 and 2014 by Hubble.

The James Webb Telescope gave us another incredible perspective: the plumes are the center of what astronomers call Messier 16 (M16), or the Eagle Nebula. This is an active region of stars.

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