Pillars of Creation - Nick Garlick

I’ve been looking at the new mid-infrared pictures of the Pillars of Creation a lot recently. Taken by the James Webb space telescope, they offer an even brighter, clearer view of these massive – 6,500 light years tall! – clouds of gas and dust so very, very far away.

Yet as impressive as it is, the version that really captures my imagination is the one in which details are less visible: the near-infrared image. In that rendering, blue space becomes dark red, shading into black. Stars vanish. Columns of brown dust mutate into looming, grasping creatures of grey; creatures with eyeless faces, horns and skeletal limbs.

It’s an image that haunts me, and one I never grow tired of studying.

So why do I mention it here, on a blog dedicated to writing? For the simple reason that it inspires me. This may sound strange. Perhaps too far-fetched for words. But it’s true. Looking at the Pillars of Creation never fails to fill me with a sense of wonder, of infinite possibilities and permutations.

I look at them and I want to create.

It’s as simple as that.

(This link will take you to a page on the BBC website where you can move from mid to near-infrared with a single mouse movement. It's fun.)