James Webb Space Telescope Pillars of Creation Halloween
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured an eerie image of the Pillars of Creation using its mid-infrared instrument (MIRI) just in time for Halloween. The image looks this way because the instrument is designed to show where dust is, and since the stars aren’t bright enough at these wavelengths to appear, the pillars appear to gleam at their edges.


James Webb Space Telescope Pillars of Creation Halloween
Countless stars have formed in this region, but in MIRI’s view, the majority of the stars appear missing. This is because the newly formed stars are no longer surrounded by enough dust to be detected in mid-infrared light. Instead, we see young stars that have not yet cast off their dusty “cloaks,” while blue stars that dot the scene are aging, which means they have shed most of their layers of gas and dust.

Sale
Celestron - NexStar 127SLT Computerized Telescope - Compact and Portable - Maksutov-Cassegrain Optical...
1,292 Reviews
Celestron - NexStar 127SLT Computerized Telescope - Compact and Portable - Maksutov-Cassegrain Optical...
  • COMPUTERIZED STAR LOCATING TELESCOPE: The Celestron NexStar 127SLT offers a database of more than 40,000 stars, galaxies, nebulae, and more. Simply...
  • MAKSUTOV-CASSEGRAIN OPTICAL DESIGN: With a large, 127mm aperture, the NexStar 127SLT can gather enough light to see our Solar System and beyond. View...
  • COMPACT AND PORTABLE: The ideal telescope for adults and kids to use together, the NexStar 127SLT is compact, lightweight, and portable. It's easy to...

This scene was first captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 and revisited in 2014, but many other observatories, like NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, have also gazed deeply at the Pillars of Creation. With every observation, astronomers gain new information, and through their ongoing research build a deeper understanding of this star-forming region. Each wavelength of light and advanced instrument delivers far more precise counts of the gas, dust, and stars,” said NASA.

Author

A technology, gadget and video game enthusiast that loves covering the latest industry news. Favorite trade show? Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.