Category: Space

A team at NASA has unveiled a breathtaking new visualization of the Pillars of Creation, a stunning space formation made famous by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in 1995. These ethereal structures, located at the heart of the Eagle Nebula, have captivated astronomers and the public alike for decades.

The new 3D visualization, is a combination of data from the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA’s cutting-edge James Webb Space Telescope. The visualizer presents a detailed multi-wavelength movie that allows viewers to explore the towering star-birthing structures in three dimensions. This immersive experience goes beyond the flat, two-dimensional images typically captured by telescopes, taking viewers on a journey through the pillars’ intricate structures. Having multiple space telescopes that view different aspects and layers is what gives us the ability to reconstruct these object more clearly.

NASA noted that this new visualization demonstrates how two of the world’s most powerful space telescopes work together to provide a more comprehensive portrait of the pillars. Hubble captures objects glowing in visible light, which are at thousands of degrees, while Webb’s infrared vision, sensitive to cooler objects at just hundreds of degrees, penetrates through dust to reveal stars embedded within the pillars.

“When we combine observations from NASA’s space telescopes across different wavelengths of light, we broaden our understanding of the universe,” said Mark Clampin, Director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The Pillars of Creation region continues to offer us new insights that hone our understanding of how stars form. Now, with this new visualization, everyone can experience this rich, captivating landscape in a new way.”

The Eagle Nebula, home to the Pillars of Creation, stretches 9.5 light-years across and lies in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way in the constellation Serpens. The towering pillars span more than twice the distance from our sun to its nearest star, making them an awe-inspiring feature of our galaxy.

A bi-disciplinary scientific study has identified a likely 11-mile-thick layer of diamonds at the boundary between Mercury’s core and mantle.

This finding is significant given that Mercury, despite being one of the closest planets to Earth, remains the least understood in our solar system.

Diamonds, which are pure carbon, are abundant throughout the solar system under the right conditions of pressure and temperature. Mercury’s surface, observed by the MESSENGER spacecraft from 2011 to 2015, appears grey due to its high graphite content. Graphite, another form of pure carbon, suggested to researchers that diamonds could be present below the surface.

“We know there’s a lot of carbon in the form of graphite on the surface of Mercury, but there are very few studies about the inside of the planet,” said Yanhao Lin, a staff scientist at the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research in Beijing and co-author of the study published in June in Nature Communications.

The researchers used a special pressure chamber to simulate conditions similar to those at Mercury’s core-mantle boundary—70,000 times Earth’s sea level pressure and 2,000°C (3,630°F). They mixed graphite with elements believed to be present in Mercury’s mantle, including silicon, titanium, magnesium, and aluminum. Under these conditions, the graphite transformed into diamond crystals.

By analyzing data from the MESSENGER mission on Mercury’s mineral composition and depth, the authors estimate the diamond layer is about 11 miles thick. However, mining these diamonds is not feasible due to their depth, similar to why Earth’s mantle cannot be mined.

“However, some lavas at the surface of Mercury have been formed by melting of the very deep mantle. It is reasonable to consider that this process is able to bring some diamonds to the surface, by analogy with what happens on Earth,” said Bernard Charlier, head of the department of geology at the University of Liège in Belgium and a coauthor of the study. While mining equipment would need to endure temperatures above 500°F, past asteroid mining achievements and plans from companies like Trans Astra suggest future possibilities.