Fly Through the Pillars of Creation in Stunning New Video
One of the most iconic scenes in space gets a modern makeover
Three decades ago, the Hubble Space telescope made the Pillars of Creation among the most iconic space images of all time, a photo of unprecedented detail that captured our imaginations and the very essence of the grandeur of the cosmos. NASA and its partners have never lost their fascination with the finger-like clouds of gas and dust, a vast and tumultuous region of space where stars are born at a blistering pace.
And now — fasten your cosmic seat belts — scientists today released a new 3D visualization that flies through the pillars. The video is below, but first a little background:
The visualization combines data from Hubble (original image below) and more recent observations from the James Webb telescope (above) to create “the most comprehensive and detailed multiwavelength movie” of the pillars, also known as the Eagle Nebula or M16.
“By flying past and amongst the pillars, viewers experience their three-dimensional structure and see how they look different in the Hubble visible-light view versus the Webb infrared-light view,” explained Frank Summers, who has the awesome title of principal visualization scientist, at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)…
