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Webb captures image of protostar swathed in dark clouds
Webb captures image of protostar swathed in dark clouds
New image offers window into what our Sun and Solar System looked like in infancy.Just last month, the James Webb Telescope gifted us a spectacular new image of the Pillars of Creation—arguably the most famous image taken by Webb's predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, in 1995. Now the telescope is giving astronomers clues about the formation of a new star, with a stunning image of an hourglass-shaped dark cloud surrounding a protostar, an object known as L1527.
As we've reported previously, the James Webb Space Telescope launched in December 2021 and, after a suspenseful sunshield and mirror deployment over several months, began capturing stunning images. First, there was the deep field image of the Universe, released in July. This was followed by images of exoplanet atmospheres, the Southern Ring Nebula, a cluster of interacting galaxies called Stephan's Quintet, and the Carina Nebula, a star-forming region about 7,600 light-years away.
In August, we received gorgeous images of Jupiter, including the auroras at both poles that result from Jupiter's powerful magnetic field, as well as its thin rings and two of the gas giant's small moons. This was followed a month later by a mosaic image showing a panorama of star formation stretching across a staggering 340 light-years in the Tarantula Nebula—so named because of its long, dusty filaments. We also were treated to spectacular images of Neptune and its rings, which have not been directly observed since Voyager 2 flew by the planet in 1989, and, as already mentioned, the Pillars of Creation.
This latest image is courtesy of Webb's primary imager, the Near-Infrared Camera (MIRCam). To capture images of very faint objects, NIRCam's coronagraphs block any light coming from brighter objects in the vicinity, similar to how shielding one's eyes from bright sunlight helps us focus on the scene in front of us. The dark clouds of L1527 are only visible in the infrared, and NIRCam was able to capture features that had previously been hidden from view. Check it out
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/11/a-cosmic-hourglass-webb-captures-image-of-protostar-swathed-in-dark-clouds/ [arstechnica.com]
The James Webb Space Telescope unveiled its latest image of celestial majesty on Wednesday, an ethereal hourglass of orange and blue dust being shot out from a newly forming star at its centre.
The colourful clouds are only visible in infrared light, so had never been seen before being captured by Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), NASA and the European Space Agency said in a statement.
The very young star, known as protostar L1527, is hidden in darkness by the edge of a rotating disk of gas at the neck of the hourglass.
However light spills out from the top and bottom of the disk, lighting up the hourglass-shaped clouds.
The clouds are created by material ejected from the star colliding with surrounding matter, the statement said. The dust is thinnest in the blue sections and thickest in the orange parts, it added.
The protostar, which is just 100 000 years old and at the earliest stage of star formation, is not yet able to generate its own energy.
The surrounding black disk, which is around the size of our solar system, will feed material to the protostar until it eventually reaches "the threshold for nuclear fusion to begin," the statement said.
"Ultimately, this view of L1527 provides a window into what our Sun and solar system looked like in their infancy," it added.
The protostar is located in the Taurus molecular cloud, a stellar nursery home to hundreds of nearly formed stars around 430 light years from Earth.
Awesome pic, just follow the link!
Short Youtube video, really not any more than the photo available at both links: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mviVdLk3D4A&feature=emb_imp_woyt [youtube.com]
