Today, we are pleased to bring you the newest image of the Pillars – an image taken by the JWST. Looking at this familiar object in Infrared light, JWST is able to cut through some, but not all of the dust that fills this field.

The Pillars of Creation are just one small part of the larger Eagle Nebula or M16. Classified as an open cluster, it is just one to two million years old, and we are seeing the largest stars shine and smaller stars working to pull themselves together.

This is just an image release. We still have to wait to find out what new science this image has to teach us. For now, we can simply enjoy the things that are obvious. 

Looking around the edges of the pillar, we can make out the occasional eruption of red from the pillars’ edges. These are jets coming off forming stars. We also see that the entire image glows with light either reflected off the gas or transmitted through it. The Eagle nebula is in the disk of our Milky Way, and not even JWST can pierce through all the material that fills not just this nebulae but also diffusely lurks in the space between the stars.

More Information

ESA Webb press release

NASA Webb press release