NASA's James Webb found newly formed stars glowing just outside the Pillars of Creation

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captured a highly detailed portrait of the iconic Pillars of Creation, a star-forming region within the Eagle Nebula, 6,500 light-years away. First made famous by Hubble in 1995 and revisited in 2014, Webb's near-infrared view revealed newly formed protostars as bright red orbs, with wavy lines showing jets from still-forming stars colliding with surrounding gas. A December 2022 composite combining Webb's near- and mid-infrared instruments revealed thousands of stars throughout the region, giving researchers far more precise counts of newly formed stars than ever before. Video Credit: Danielle Kirshenblat (STScI); Science: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)