The protostar within the dark cloud L1527, shown in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), is embedded within a cloud of material feeding its growth. (Courtesy: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI / IMAGE PROCESSING: Josep …
The beginnings of a new star were captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, and like many other images from the JWST, it is just as mesmerizing.
Known as protostar L1527 IRS, the new star is located in a nebula of the constellation Taurus.
An image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope shows the protostar illuminating part of the nebula, with beams of light creating a bright, hourglass shape set upon the backdrop of dark clouds of dust and gas.
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The top half of the "hourglass" reveals clouds of gas and dust in shades of orange and bronze, while clouds on the bottom half are awash in blues and lavenders.
Such a vibrant display of colors is due to the clouds only being visible in infrared light, allowing them to be captured by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on the James Webb Space Telescope.
Image captured by James Webb telescope (NASA) Webb NIRCam composite image from two filters – F212N (orange) and F335M (cyan) – of Jupiter system. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Ricardo Hueso (UPV/EHU) and Judy Schmidt. The Pillars of Creation are set off in a kaleidoscope of color in the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared-light view, NASA says. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; J. DePasquale, A. Koekemoer, A. Pagan (STScI) ) NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed details of the Southern Ring planetary nebula that were previously hidden from astronomers. Planetary nebulae are the shells of gas and dust ejected from dying stars. Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI Left image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows Neptune with its signature blue appearance caused by small amounts of gaseous methane. However, the Webb Telescope's Near-Infrared Camera captures objects in the near-infrared range from 0.6 to 5 microns, so Neptune does not appear blue in its image, seen on the right. (Photo credits: NASA, ESA, and M.H. Wong and J. Tollefson/UC Berkeley, left, and NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI, right) Webb NIRCam composite image of Jupiter from three filters – F360M (red), F212N (yellow-green), and F150W2 (cyan) – and alignment due to the planet’s rotation. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Judy Schmidt. Image released by NASA on July 12, 2022 shows Stephan's Quintet, a collection of five galaxies, as seen by MIRI from James Webb Space Telescope. NASA released James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images of the universe and their spectroscopic data, revealing the unprecedented and detailed views of the universe. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI/Handout via Xinhua/Getty) New images of the Phantom Galaxy, M74, showcase the power of space observatories working together in multiple wavelengths. (ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team; ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Chandar Acknowledgement: J. Schmidt) NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail. Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – have appeared in Webb’s view for the first time. This slice of the vast universe covers a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground. (NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI) The protostar within the dark cloud L1527, shown in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), is embedded within a cloud of material feeding its growth. (Courtesy: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI / IMAGE PROCESSING: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI) / NASA) The image captured by JWST is a representative-color infrared image, meaning that the colors represent the density of the gas and dust clouds being illuminated – not the colors of the clouds themselves.
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Areas where cloud material is the thinnest, are shown in blue, while areas where they are thickest appear in orange.
At the "neck" of the colorful hourglass lies the protostar. While hidden from direct view in the image, signs of the protostar can be seen by the light being emitted above and below a dark line in the middle of the neck. It is this light that forms the illuminated "hourglass" in the nebula.
The dark line indicating the location of the protostar is a protoplanetary disk, or a dense region where the material is clumping together, which surrounds the protostar. From this material, planets may eventually form.
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NASA astrophysicist shares details on set of James Webb Space Telescope images
NASA shared additional images from the $10 billion telescope’s initial outward gazes, including two images of nebulas where stars are born and die in spectacular beauty and another shot showing an update of a classic image of five tightly clustered galaxies that dance around each other.
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Protostar L1527 is relatively young at only about 100,000 years old – for comparison, our Sun is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old.
The protostar and protoplanetary disk encircling it is approximately the size of our solar system. It is a window into what our solar system may have looked like before the sun, and the planets took shape.
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