The gleaming tower of cosmic dust and gas at the heart of the Eagle Nebula has been a source of awe for decades since the Hubble Space Telescope first captured it. Now, NASA freed The most detailed visualization of an iconic celestial structure, revealing all of its fantastical features under multiple wavelengths of light.
Using data from the Hubble and Webb space telescopes, NASA astrophysicists have weaved an unprecedented journey through the Pillars of Creation, traversing the three-dimensional structure to reveal the dust clouds and embedded stars that make up its finger-like features. . 3D visualization based on Paper Published on Meteorites and Planetary Science Magazine.
The 2.5-minute video allows viewers to experience the Pillars of Creation in visible light captured by Hubble and in infrared light captured by Webb. “By flying over and between the pillars, viewers can experience their three-dimensional structure and see how they look different in Hubble’s visible light view versus Webb’s infrared light view,” said Chief Visionary, who led the film’s development team. Chemical scientist Frank Summers of NASA’s Study of the Universe said in a statement. “This comparison helps them understand why we have more than one space telescope looking at different aspects of the same object.”
Hubble observes objects that emit visible light at higher temperatures. Weber’s infrared vision, on the other hand, is sensitive to cooler objects with temperatures of only a few hundred degrees. As a result, Webb was able to see through the obscuring dust and see the stars embedded in the pillars. Hubble saw pillars with dark brown, opaque dust and bright yellow ionized gas against a green-blue background, while Webb’s image featured orange and orange-brown dust with almost transparent light on a dark blue background. Blue ionized gas.
The visualization also highlights several stages of star formation. At the top of the central pillar, an embedded baby protostar glows bright red in infrared light. Then, diagonal jets of material ejected from the newborn star are visible near the top of the left column. The jets show the birth of a star, although we cannot see the star itself. Finally, a blazing new star shines at the end of an outstretched finger from a pillar on the left.
this Pillars of Creation About 4 to 5 light-years across, this is a relatively small feature of the massive Eagle Nebula, which spans 70 x 55 light-years. The nebula is located in the constellation Serpens, 7,000 light-years away from Earth, but it is so bright that it can be seen with a small telescope. At the same time, its pillars are first and foremost Made famous by the Hubble Telescope in 1995 Its stunning debut remains one of the most iconic astronomical images of all time.
“When we combine observations of different wavelengths of light from NASA’s space telescope, we broaden our understanding of the universe,” Mark Clapin, director of NASA’s Astrophysics Division, said in a statement. “Creation The Pillars region continues to provide us with new insights and deepen our understanding of how stars form. Now, with this new visualization, everyone can experience this rich and fascinating landscape in a new way.
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