This happens because the mirrored surface we use is covered by glass (just like the typical bathroom mirror) to protect the delicate reflective surface. The surrounding facets are less sharp, and near the edges of the frame the quality of the image is significantly degraded. If you look at the kaleidoscopic images #1 through #5, you will see that there is a center triangular facet that looks very sharp. If you have a wider angle lens, that’s great. I would recommend using at least a 24mm lens (on a full frame sensor camera), or an 18mm lens on a camera with a smaller sensor. The number of facets in the resulting photos increases as the width of your lens increases. To take a picture, I simply put the lens of the camera inside the triangle of mirrors, as you see in (figure A). I used duct tape to hold the unit together, and voila!, a kaleidoscope was born. To construct the kaleidoscope, I simply stood the mirrors on their ends and arranged them in a triangle such that the mirrored surface was inside. I had them smooth the edges of the glass so it wasn’t so sharp (this is important because cut glass is razor sharp), and now it was much safer to handle. I went to a glass shop and asked them to cut three pieces of mirror measuring 6x12”. To take pictures, it’s necessary to add a third mirror to form a triangle. The cost is around $5-$10, and it can be put together in just a few minutes.Ĭommercially manufactured kaleidoscopes have two mirrors inside of them set as a “V”. Several years ago I figured out how to construct a kaleidoscope that would permit photography, and I’ve always had a lot of fun with it. This tightly cropped image is set within the vast Eagle Nebula, which lies 6,500 light-years away.I have long been intrigued with kaleidoscopic images, but it’s virtually impossible to photograph into a traditional kaleidoscope because the hole through which you look to see the beautiful designs is too small. Each advanced instrument offers researchers new details about this region, which is practically overflowing with stars. This scene was first imaged by Hubble in 1995 and revisited in 2014, but many other observatories have also stared deeply at this region. Instead, a mix of translucent gas and dust known as the interstellar medium in the densest part of our Milky Way galaxy’s disk blocks our view to much of the of the deeper universe. These young stars are estimated to be only a few hundred thousand years old.Īlthough it may appear that near-infrared light has allowed Webb to “pierce through” the clouds to reveal great cosmic distances beyond the pillars, there are almost no galaxies in this view. This is evident in the second and third pillars from the top – the NIRCam image is practically pulsing with their activity. The crimson glow comes from the energetic hydrogen molecules that result from jets and shocks. This sometimes also results in bow shocks, which can form wavy patterns like a boat does as it moves through water. Young stars periodically shoot out supersonic jets that collide with clouds of material, like these thick pillars. 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. When knots with sufficient mass form within the pillars of gas and dust, they begin to collapse under their own gravity, slowly heat up, and eventually form new stars. These are the bright red orbs that typically have diffraction spikes and lie outside one of the dusty pillars. Newly formed stars are the scene-stealers in this image from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). Over time, they will begin to build a clearer understanding of how stars form and burst out of these dusty clouds over millions of years. Webb’s new view of the Pillars of Creation, which were first made famous when imaged by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, will help researchers revamp their models of star formation by identifying far more precise counts of newly formed stars, along with the quantities of gas and dust in the region. These columns are made up of cool interstellar gas and dust that appear – at times – semi-transparent in near-infrared light. The three-dimensional pillars look like majestic rock formations, but are far more permeable. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured a lush, highly detailed landscape – the iconic Pillars of Creation – where new stars are forming within dense clouds of gas and dust. 21, 2022: The story below has been updated to clarify what is visible in the James Webb Space Telescope’s Pillars of Creation NIRCam image.
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