Tuesday, October 25, 2022

M16 (NGC 6611) - Pillars of Creation

This Webb image of the “Pillars of Creation” has layers of semi-opaque, rusty red gas and dust that start at the bottom left and go toward the top right. There are three prominent pillars rising toward the top right. The left pillar is the largest and widest. The peaks of the second and third pillars are set off in darker shades of brown and have red outlines. Peeking through the layers of gas and dust is the background, set in shades of blue and littered with tiny yellow and blue stars. Many of the tips of the pillars appear tinged with what looks like lava. There are also tiny red dots at the edges of the pillars, which are newly born stars.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

At left, Hubble’s visible-light view shows darker pillars that rise from the bottom to the top of the screen, ending in three points. The background is opaque, set off in yellow and green toward the bottom and blue and purple at the top. A handful of stars of various sizes appear. Webb’s near-infrared image at right shows the same pillars, but they are semi-opaque and rusty red-colored. The peaks of the second and third pillars are set off in darker shades of brown and have red outlines. The background is cast in darker blues and blacks, and stars in yellow and white of all sizes speckle the entire scene.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI (Hubble and Webb Slide Tool)

Three prominent pillars of semi-opaque gas and dust, each in spectral shades of gray-blue, start at the bottom left and reach toward the top right. From left to right, each pillar is consecutively smaller. Together, they appear like a ghostly hand. Towards the top of the leftmost pillar, there is one prominent red star, with tiny spikes at its tip. Lower on this pillar, there are several darker areas of dust that jut out like protrusions, some also with stars that appear as small red dots. The other two pillars are below and to the right of the first pillar. The background of this scene takes on glowing shades of orange-red mixed with black, with the strongest bright orange hues dipping into a V shape at the top center of the image. Scattered throughout the image are a few dozen tiny bright white and blue stars. Larger stars appear like red orbs and are embedded in the pillars.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI (MIRI and NIRCam Slider Tool)

Webb Telescope's Image of the Pillars of Creation
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Ant_H.

JWST Image of the Pillars of Creation
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, u/DatSexyFoxx

Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute
Credit: Grant Tremblay
Credit: Mark McCaughrean


Credit: AAS WorldWide Telescope Pillars of Creation