Webb Takes Even More Pictures of the Pillars of Creation, This Time in Infrared

Last month, NASA released the first images of the Pillars of Creation taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. These beautiful clouds of interstellar dust are responsible for birthing new stars as the dust collapses in on itself. A few days ago, NASA released another image of the Pillars of Creation taken by Webb, this time using its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).

Pillars of Creation, taken by Webb’s MIRI. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI. Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

The Pillars of Creation, located in the Eagle Nebula, have been one of the most iconic visuals in space since The Hubble Space Telescope took the first image of it in 1995. Since then, several other photos have been taken of it, including two more images taken by Hubble in 2014.

One of the images released in 2014 was taken using Hubble’s near-infrared capabilities to show what the James Webb telescope might be capable of. Things have now come full circle, with photos from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), showing new details of the pillars and the stars within and around them.