Evidence of triggered star formation in the Pillars of Creation from JWST observations

Stars form in molecular clouds under the influence of their local environments, yet the role of massive stellar feedback in either triggering or suppressing star formation remains a fundamental question in astrophysics. The Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula—sculpted by ionizing radiation and stellar winds from massive stars in NGC 6611—offer a natural laboratory for investigating this question. Here we present high-resolution observations of the Pillars of Creation using the JWST Near Infrared Camera and Mid-Infrared Instrument, revealing 253 young stellar object (YSO) candidates. These YSO candidates show spatial correlations with the edges of feedback-driven structures, with overdensities along the boundaries. A weak trend of decreasing stellar age with increasing distance from the ionizing source was tentatively observed. There also appears to be an enhancement in the star formation rate within the past 1 Myr in this region. Such age and spatial associations suggest that while the bulk of the YSOs may have formed contemporaneously with the central cluster, a subset could be associated with triggered star formation. The JWST image of intricate structures—including a spiral-like disk and bi-reflection nebulae at the tips of Pillar I and Pillar II—further highlights the complexity of star formation processes. JWST reveals 253 YSO candidates in the Pillars of Creation, concentrated along the pillar edges with tentative age gradients and an enhanced star formation rate within 1 Myr. These findings suggest that some may have formed via triggered star formation.