How about wallpaper?The Eagle Nebula’s “Pillar of Creation” captured by the Web Space Telescope | sorae Space Portal Site

[▲ Pillars of Creation of the Eagle Nebula taken by the James Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared camera (NIRCam) (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI))]

This is about 6500 light years away in the direction of Serpent“The Eagle Nebula”This image captures part of (Messier 16, M16).The pillar-like shape of the dark nebula indicates that this region is“Pillars of Creation”is called

This image is“James Webb”space telescope“Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam)”Created from images acquired on August 14, 2022 usingObservations were made at infrared wavelengths that the human eye cannot see, so they are colored and synthesized according to the six types of filters used at the time of acquisition.（※）。

* F090W: purple, F187N: blue, F200W: cyan, F335M: yellow, F444W: orange, F470N: red.

The part that looks like a pillar isgas and dustcoldmolecular cloudis. The denser part of the molecular cloud collapses under its own gravity and new stars form from it.Just outside the column, in this areanewly formed starsis shining.By the way, the needle-like light radiating from a bright star isdiffraction spikeThis is called a diffraction spike and is caused by the structure of the telescope.

Also, the tip of some pillars looks like lavabright red partbut according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), this isA young star in the process of forming in a molecular cloudseems to be related to A jet of gas ejected from a young star collides with the molecular cloud, and the infrared rays emitted from the excited hydrogen molecules are seen here as a red glow. As the name Pillars of Creation suggests, this image captures a young star and the site of its birth.

the pillars of creation“Hubble”Space telescopes also took pictures in 1994 and 2014. Molecular clouds containing dust sometimes block visible light (especially blue light with short wavelengths), and the pillars of creation captured by the Hubble Space Telescope resemble towering rocks.

On the other hand, infrared light, which is mainly used by the Webb Space Telescope, is less likely to be blocked by dust, so it is possible to see through the inside of the pillar. By further pinpointing the number of newly formed stars from Webb Space Telescope observations,Improved models of star formationis expected to lead to

[▲ The Pillar of Creation (left) photographed in September 2014 with the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and the Pillar of Creation (right) photographed with the Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared camera (NIRCam). (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Hubble Heritage Project (STScI, AURA); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI))]

Images of the Pillars of Creation taken by the Webb Space Telescope will be released by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), which operates the Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes, on October 19, 2022. It has been.

The published images can be downloaded directly from NASA’s press release (URL below). How about a smartphone wallpaper?

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-takes-star-filled-portrait-of-pillars-of-creation

connection:17 rings drawn by pairs of giant stars.Taken by the James Webb Space Telescope

Source

• Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Hubble Heritage Project (STScI, AURA); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
• NASA – NASA’s Webb Takes Star-Filled Portrait of Pillars of Creation
• ESA – Webb takes a stunning, star-filled portrait of the Pillars of Creation
• STScI – NASA’s Webb Takes Star-Filled Portrait of Pillars of Creation
• ESA / Webb – Webb Takes a Stunning, Star-Filled Portrait of the Pillars of Creation

Text/Matsumura Takehiro