NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation

Why does it look like there's some really bright object shining from the top-right of the pillars, giving the impression that there's actually a shadow on it?

edit: right, not left.

edit 2: well, there's no impression here. There IS something larger shining it, the rest of the structure the pillars are part of.

Picture: (mobile users warning 52mb image) https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Eagle_Ne...

Re: NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation

#8

Post by rubinlinux » Wed, Oct 19, 2022, 7:46 PM UTC

debone wrote: post #7

Why does it look like there's some really bright object shining from the top-right of the pillars, giving the impression that there's actually a shadow on it? edit: right, not left. edit 2: well, there's no impression here. There IS something larger shining it, the rest of the structure the pillars are part of. Picture: (mobile users warning 52mb image) https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Eagle_Ne...

IIRC it is radiation bouncing off its clumps of hydrogen from nearby stars.

Re: NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation

#9

Post by callumprentice » Wed, Oct 19, 2022, 7:59 PM UTC

Awe inspiring - can anyone point me to a description of the scale we're looking at? I'm sure it must be unimaginably large. What is the distance between the two top "arms" for example?

Edit: easier to find than I imagined and Good Lord! https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/8tfo8i/the_amazing_s... Difficult to comprehend.

Re: NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation

#10

Post by debone » Wed, Oct 19, 2022, 7:59 PM UTC

rubinlinux wrote: post #8

debone wrote: post #7

Why does it look like there's some really bright object shining from the top-right of the pillars, giving the impression that there's actually a shadow on it? edit: right, not left. edit 2: well, there's no impression here. There IS something larger shining it, the rest of the structure the pillars are part of. Picture: (mobile users warning 52mb image) https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Eagle_Ne...

IIRC it is radiation bouncing off its clumps of hydrogen from nearby stars.

Ah, so radiation is being emitted and blocked in a way that coincides to the way we interpret 3d objects, is that right? Because if it would be uniform, the bright orange colors would be uniformly distributed?