Skabelsens søjler
Skabelsens søjler henviser til et fotografi taget af Hubble-rumteleskopet af søjler af interstellar gas og støv i stjernetågen Ørnen. Det blev taget den 2. april 1995 og Space.com udråbte det til at være et af de ti bedste fotografier taget med Hubble-rumteleskopet.[1] Astronomerne ansvarlige for fotografiet var Jeff Hester og Paul Scowen fra Arizona State University. Stjernerne i denne del af Ørnen er dannet af andre stjerner som eroderer ved gas og dette giver en æggelignende form. Hvert "æg" er omtrent samme størrelse som vores solsystem og huser en helt ny stjerne.
Billedet består af tre separate fotografier taget med Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 om bord på Hubble. Hvert fotografi blev lavet med lys udsendt af forskellige grundstoffer i skyen og fremsat med forskellige farver i det sammensatte billede: grøn for hydrogen, rød for enkelt-ioniseret svovl og blå for dobbelt-ioniserede oxygenatomer.[2]
Genbesøg
Siden det originale billede i 1995 er motivet blevet genbesøgt flere gange, og selvom navnet "Skabelsens Søjler" oprindeligt var titlen på billedet er det nu blevet blevet synonymt med det fysiske område i stjernetågen Ørnen hvor søjlerne findes.[3]
Ved fejringen af 25-års jubilæet siden lanceringen af Hubble-rumteleskopet samlede astronomer et større billede med højere opløsning af skabelsens søjler, som blev afsløret i januar 2015 ved American Astronomical Society-mødet i Seattle. Billedet blev fotograferet af Hubble-teleskopets Wide Field Camera 3, som blev installeret i 2009. Der blev også taget et infrarødt billede. Det nye billede er bredere, og viser derfor mere af bunden af de tågede søjler.[4]
I oktober 2022 blev det afsløret, at James Webb Space Telescope fangede et nyt billede af skabelsens søjler ved at bruge deres nærinfrarøde kamera ombord på rumfartøjet. Billedet var i stand til at fange dannelsen af nye stjerner, der stadig var under udvikling, meget detaljeret, som på billedet ses som røde pletter nær udkanten af søjlerne. Desuden er de tykke, støvede brune søjler blevet mere gennemsigtige på det nye billede.[5][6]
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Fodnoter
- ^ Best Hubble Space telescope images fra Space.com (engelsk)
- ^ Embryonic Stars Emerge from Interstellar "Eggs", Hubble news release (engelsk)
- ^ Pillars of Creation fra messier-objects.com (engelsk)
- ^ "Hubble Goes High-Definition to Revisit Iconic 'Pillars of Creation'" (engelsk). NASA. 5. januar 2015. Hentet 6. januar 2015.
- ^ Adkins, Jamie (18. oktober 2022). "NASA's Webb Takes Star-Filled Portrait of Pillars of Creation". NASA (engelsk). Hentet 19. oktober 2022.
- ^ Overbye, Dennis (19. oktober 2022). "Webb Telescope Captures New View of 'Pillars of Creation' - The NASA space observatory's infrared eye finds out what's going on within the cloudy cosmic nursery". The New York Times (engelsk). Hentet 21. oktober 2022.
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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s mid-infrared view of the Pillars of Creation strikes a chilling tone. Thousands of stars that exist in this region disappear – and seemingly endless layers of gas and dust become the centerpiece.
The detection of dust by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is extremely important – dust is a major ingredient for star formation. Many stars are actively forming in these dense blue-gray pillars. When knots of gas and dust with sufficient mass form in these regions, they begin to collapse under their own gravitational attraction, slowly heat up – and eventually form new stars.
Although the stars appear missing, they aren’t. Stars typically do not emit much mid-infrared light. Instead, they are easiest to detect in ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light. In this MIRI view, two types of stars can be identified. The stars at the end of the thick, dusty pillars have recently eroded the material surrounding them. They show up in red because their atmospheres are still enshrouded in cloaks of dust. In contrast, blue tones indicate stars that are older and have shed most of their gas and dust.
Mid-infrared light also details dense regions of gas and dust. The red region toward the top, which forms a delicate V shape, is where the dust is both diffuse and cooler. And although it may seem like the scene clears toward the bottom left of this view, the darkest gray areas are where densest and coolest regions of dust lie. Notice that there are many fewer stars and no background galaxies popping into view.
Webb’s mid-infrared data will help researchers determine exactly how much dust is in this region – and what it’s made of. These details will make models of the Pillars of Creation far more precise. Over time, we will begin to more clearly understand how stars form and burst out of these dusty clouds over millions of years.
Contrast this view with Webb’s near-infrared light image.
MIRI was contributed by ESA and NASA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (the MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona. Credits:
SCIENCE: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
IMAGE PROCESSING: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI).jpg)
The Pillars of Creation are set off in a kaleidoscope of color in NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared-light view. The pillars look like arches and spires rising out of a desert landscape, but are filled with semi-transparent gas and dust, and ever changing. This is a region where young stars are forming – or have barely burst from their dusty cocoons as they continue to form.
Newly formed stars are the scene-stealers in this Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image. These are the bright red orbs that sometimes appear with eight diffraction spikes. When knots with sufficient mass form within the pillars, they begin to collapse under their own gravity, slowly heat up, and eventually begin shining brightly.
Along the edges of the pillars are wavy lines that look like lava. These are ejections from stars that are still forming. Young stars periodically shoot out supersonic jets that can interact within clouds of material, like these thick pillars of gas and dust. This sometimes also results in bow shocks, which can form wavy patterns like a boat does as it moves through water. These young stars are estimated to be only a few hundred thousand years old, and will continue to form for millions of years.
Although it may appear that near-infrared light has allowed Webb to “pierce through” the background to reveal great cosmic distances beyond the pillars, the interstellar medium stands in the way, like a drawn curtain.
This is also the reason why there are almost no distant galaxies in this view. This translucent layer of gas blocks our view of the deeper universe. Plus, dust is lit up by the collective light from the packed “party” of stars that have burst free from the pillars. It’s like standing in a well-lit room looking out a window – the interior light reflects on the pane, obscuring the scene outside and, in turn, illuminating the activity at the party inside.
Webb’s new view of the Pillars of Creation will help researchers revamp models of star formation. By identifying far more precise star populations, along with the quantities of gas and dust in the region, they will begin to build a clearer understanding of how stars form and burst out of these clouds over millions of years.
The Pillars of Creation is a small region within the vast Eagle Nebula, which lies 6,500 light-years away.
Webb’s NIRCam was built by a team at the University of Arizona and Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has revisited the famous Pillars of Creation, originally photographed in 1995, revealing a sharper and wider view of the structures in this visible-light image.
Astronomers combined several Hubble exposures to assemble the wider view. The towering pillars are about 5 light-years tall. The dark, finger-like feature at bottom right may be a smaller version of the giant pillars. The new image was taken with Hubble's versatile and sharp-eyed Wide Field Camera 3.
The pillars are bathed in the blistering ultraviolet light from a grouping of young, massive stars located off the top of the image. Streamers of gas can be seen bleeding off the pillars as the intense radiation heats and evaporates it into space. Denser regions of the pillars are shadowing material beneath them from the powerful radiation. Stars are being born deep inside the pillars, which are made of cold hydrogen gas laced with dust. The pillars are part of a small region of the Eagle Nebula, a vast star-forming region 6,500 light-years from Earth.
The colors in the image highlight emission from several chemical elements. Oxygen emission is blue, sulfur is orange, and hydrogen and nitrogen are green.
A number of Herbig-Haro jets lengthened noticeably (see lower panel of linked page) in the nearly 20-year interval between the two Hubble images.
Object Names: M16, Eagle Nebula, NGC 6611
A longer news release is linked here.
The original image was edited to reduce noise.
(c) ESA/Hubble, CC BY 4.0
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has revisited one of its most iconic and popular images: the Eagle Nebula’s Pillars of Creation. This image shows the pillars as seen in infrared light, allowing it to pierce through obscuring dust and gas and unveil a more unfamiliar — but just as amazing — view of the pillars. In this ethereal view the entire frame is peppered with bright stars and baby stars are revealed being formed within the pillars themselves. The ghostly outlines of the pillars seem much more delicate, and are silhouetted against an eerie blue haze. Hubble also captured the pillars in visible light.
Star forming pillars in the Eagle Nebula, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope's WFPC2. The picture is composed of 32 different images from four separate cameras in this instrument. The photograph was made with light emitted by different elements in the cloud and appears as a different colour in the composite image: green for hydrogen, red for singly-ionized sulphur and blue for double-ionized oxygen atoms. The missing part at the top right is because one of the four cameras has a magnified view of its portion, which allows astronomers to see finer detail. The images from this camera were scaled down in size to match those from the other three cameras. Further information at: Credit: NASA, Jeff Hester, and Paul Scowen (Arizona State University)