James Webb Space Telescope takes spectacular shot of Pillars of Creation

Oct. 19 (UPI) -- NASA's James Webb Space Telescope on Wednesday revealed new, richly detailed images of the iconic Pillars of Creation some 6,500 light years away.

The Hubble Space Telescope first took detailed images of the densely packed formation of clouds, gas and dust that generates young stars in 1995. NASA said new images taken by the James Webb telescope will help it update models of how stars are created along with the quantities of gas and dust in the region.

"The three-dimensional pillars look like majestic rock formations but are far more permeable," NASA said. "These columns are made up of cool interstellar gas and dust that appear -- at times -- semi-transparent in near-infrared light.

"Over time, [NASA researchers] will begin to build a clearer understanding of how stars form and burst out of these dusty clouds over millions of years."

Newly formed stars show up as bright red orbs that typically have diffraction spikes and lie outside one of the dusty pillars, NASA said. The space agency added that when knots with sufficient mass form within the pillars of gas and dust, they begin to collapse under their own gravity, and slowly heat up, forming a new star.

"What about those wavy lines that look like lava at the edges of some pillars? These are ejections from stars that are still forming within the gas and dust," NASA said. "Young stars periodically shoot out supersonic jets that collide with clouds of material, like these thick pillars.

"This sometimes also results in bow shocks, which can form wavy patterns like a boat does as it moves through the water. The crimson glow comes from the energetic hydrogen molecules that result from jets and shocks."

After Hubble took its first shot of the Pillars of Creation in 1995, it took a second image in 2014. Other observatories have also spied on the formation, which lies within the vast Eagle Nebula 6,500 light-years away.