NASA’s Webb Telescope Captures Super Spooky ‘Pillars of Creation’ View.

New images from NASA’s next-generation James Webb Space Telescope present views of space so clear and crisp it’s ghostly. For Halloween, the space agency boosted the (mid-infrared) in a photo of the spectacular “Pillars of Creation” to give this remarkable star-forming region a darker, dustier tone.

The Pillars of Creation – located in the sprawling Eagle Nebula some 6,500 light-years away – first achieved astronomical fame when the Hubble Space Telescope observed them in 1995.

It was then brought back into the spotlight as the scope revisited it in 2014, and last week Hubble’s successor Webb provided extremely sharp, detailed views of the pillars, being able to see through more of the area’s obscuring dust than was previously possible. This image was created by the machine’s near-infrared instrument. However, as it turns out, Webb is also equipped to let the dust and gas themselves glow in their own ethereal way.

A switch to Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI, provided the eerie observation of the iconic pillars we see above.

Viewing the scene in the mid-infrared reveals the dust that obscures the light from numerous stars shining through them, the sparks that are more easily seen in other parts of the spectrum and highlighted in Webb’s main landscape image. according to NASA.

The effect gives the whole scene a more ghostly feel, like a large shadowy hand reaching across the universe. The purple hues highlighted by MIRI are enough to make you wonder if we’re actually looking at the heavens or somewhere a little more…hellish.

This red region near the top is where the dust is coolest and most diffuse, and just like a storm cloud on Earth, the darkest shades of gray in the poles (or fingers) indicate the densest dust clouds.

In addition to being awesome cosmic eye candy, this new view also provides more detailed data that will allow astronomers to construct more complete 3D models of this turbulent region where entire solar systems begin.