NASA’s most vigilant observatory has done it again. The James Webb Space Telescope has returned an image of the famous “Pillars of Creation” in infrared light, the sharpest and most detailed portrait of the spectacular star-forming region ever seen.

The ethereal scene captures translucent columns of cool interstellar gas and dust, punctuated by piercing bright points of light. Most of them are stars, and the reddish fireballs near the edges of the pillars are newly formed stars, according to NASA.

Do not confuse these with the dark red magma-like areas around the inner perimeter of several pillars. This is created by the perturbations of stars that are still forming and shoot supersonic jets of material into space where they collide with other material. In short, this is what cosmic chaos looks like.

Fortunately, these epic explosions and cosmological collisions are far away, about 6,500 light years from Earth.

This region of the universe first gained prominence in 1995 when it was discovered by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. In 2014, Hubble conducted a follow-up campaign, and many other observatories have also turned their lenses on the region within the Eagle Nebula.

A side-by-side comparison of the new image and Hubble’s view of the cosmic phenomenon shows how Webb’s infrared instrument is able to peer through the veils of dust and gas that shroud the scene.

NASA and astronomers around the world will look to such images and other data from Webb to better understand the process of star formation.

For the rest of us, it’s eye candy just in time for Halloween.