James Webb Space Telescope - Pillars of Creation - NIRCam Image - Horizontal - Cropped Youth T-Shirt

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"James Webb Space Telescope - Pillars of Creation - NIRCam Image - Horizontal - Cropped"

Note: This is a substantial crop of the original Webb image.

Release Date: October 19, 2022

About this image:

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...

Based in Colorado Springs, Colorado USA, I'm a nature and landscape photographer primarily focused on the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Working in both color and black and white, I use a variety of photographic techniques to capture the many moods of mountain landscapes, from intimate perspectives to grand vistas, in locations both iconic and seldom-visited. My goal is to produce images with vivid colors, high dynamic range, and compelling compositions. Longer lens focal lengths are preferred to bring the viewer closer into the scene, requiring every available pixel to help tell the story. Thank you for visiting the site. I hope you enjoy my work. "The mountains are calling and I must go." -- John Muir