NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captures stunning new images of the Pillars of Creation | Technology News

If you’re looking to update your phone wallpaper, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better one.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Captured a stunning photo of the Pillars of Creation, the iconic alignment of newly formed stars made famous by the previous one in 1995.

It was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope that year, and the scene was revisited 19 years later.

A photo from 2014, compared to the new photo on the right.Image: NASA
picture:
A photo from 2014, compared to the new photo on the right.Image: NASA

The latest images show the most detailed plumes of gas and dust yet, which look like majestic rock formations on a science fiction planet.

They were actually found in the huge Eagle Nebula 6,500 light-years from Earth.

The improved image quality will help astronomers identify more stars and more accurately calculate the amount of gas and dust, NASA said.

The space agency added that it was captured by the telescope’s near-infrared camera.

How to identify what’s in a picture

What’s most striking about this image are the newly formed stars — those are the bright spheres you can see.

When knots of sufficient mass form within the gas and dust pillars, they collapse under their own gravity, slowly heating up, and eventually forming new stars.

Another striking element in the picture are those wavy red lines, almost like lava.

NASA says these are projectiles from stars that periodically shoot out supersonic jets that collide with the pillars.

These are the youngest stars, estimated to be only a few hundred thousand years old.

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