NASA Publishes Pillars of Creation Halloween Picture

By Isabelle Parker

(Photo from NASA)

A new image of the Pillars of Creation taken using the James Webb Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument highlights the haunting clouds of dust.

The image is a twin to one published earlier in the month taken with the Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). That image instead emphasises the stars rather than the clouds of dust.

(Photo from NASA)

The NIRCam image is a recreation of the Hubble Telescope's iconic 1995 photo.

(Photo by NASA)

The Pillars are large columns of hydrogen gas and cosmic dust so big that NASA measures them in light years. NASA claims they are 4-5 light years wide- for comparison, the Sun is around eight light minutes away from Earth. The Pillars would be equal to around 37.6-47 km across.

The Pillars of Creation are located within a group of stars known as the Eagle Nebula, and are around 6,500 light years from Earth.

The name 'Pillars of Creation' was created due to the thousands of new stars that have formed in the region. The hydrogen gas and dust act as incubators for the stars, and many knots of gas are actively collapsing, heating, and forming stars in the area.