The new Pillar of Creation photographed by the James Webb telescope is so beautiful that it is far more detailed than the Pillar of Creation once photographed by the Hubble telescope.
Figure 1 (above) This photo is of the Pillar of Creation taken by the Webb telescope in October 2022, which used a near-infrared camera to take this image.
Figure 2 shows a photograph of the Pillar of Creation taken by Hubble in 1995, with little detail to speak of.
Figure 3 is a good photo of the Pillar of Genesis taken by astronomers in 2014 using the near-infrared band of Hubble's upgraded third-generation wide-field camera, which is not bad.
It can be seen from the details of the photos that the Webb telescope's observation ability in the infrared band is much stronger than that of the Hubble telescope, and it is still just a small test, and more wonderful astronomical photos will be taken in the future.
The pillars of creation are part of the Eagle Nebula, and the pillars in the photo are 10 light-years tall and light-years wide, much larger than the solar system. A large number of O-type massive stars are bred inside, many of which are much more massive than the Sun, and some newborn stars are even tens of times more massive than the Sun.
There is a magical phenomenon in the field of astronomical observation, that is, the farther we see, the older the celestial objects we see, because they are so far away from us that even light takes many years to reach the earth and be observed by us.
The Pillar of Creation we see now through a telescope is what it looked like 6,500 years ago!
NASA reported in a 2007 study that scientists had discovered supermassive stars near the Pillar of Creation that were about to explode as a supernova in hundreds of years, and their impact would break the Pillar of Creation, so scientists concluded that the Pillar of Creation should no longer exist by now. But if humans want to see this picture, it will take 6,500 years.
(The picture shows the eagle nebula, have you seen the Pillar of Creation?) ）
The Eagle Nebula, designated NGC 6611 , is a well-known deep-sky object located about 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Serpent , and was discovered by astronomers as early as 1745. It is a superstar manufacturing plant in the Milky Way, from which many new stars are born every once in a while. The Eagle Nebula is also known as the M16 Nebula because it ranks 16th in the famous Messier catalog.
The James Webb telescope, the successor to Hubble, was launched on December 25, 2021, at the second Lagrange point at 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, farther than the moon is from Earth.
After liftoff, the Webb telescope has brought many surprises to astronomers, whether it is photos of Jupiter, Stephen Pentaplex galaxy, or photos of the Great Nebula of Carina, Orion Nebula, Southern Ring Nebula, etc., each of which is beautiful.
(The picture shows the Stephen quintuple galaxy taken by the Webb telescope)
Webb telescopes are expensive, costing tens of billions of dollars. Judging from the current performance, this money is indeed worth it, and it will be one of the most powerful weapons for mankind to explore the ultimate meaning of the universe in the next ten years. Through its lens, we will be able to see what the first few hundred million years of the universe were like.
Follow me and take you with long knowledge.