The telescope captures a stunning image of a star being born 1,300 light-years from Earth

Human interest

by Brooke Cato

A star is born – literally.

A stunning image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope provides new clues about how stars came into being.

This stunning image shows the protostar HH 212, located about 1,300 light-years from Earth.

HH 212 was first discovered in 1993, near Orion’s Belt, and astronomers have spent the past three decades taking images in order to reveal how the budding star slowly formed.

However, according to Mark McGregorianHe is a senior advisor to the European Space Agency, and this is the first time scientists have seen…Good color photo“For the protostar, which was not possible before using ground-based telescopes.

The new image reveals intricate details about star formation, with symmetrical pink plumes of gas emissions coming from either pole of the protostar.

McCaughrian claims that these neon explosions – called jets or outflows – actually exist A moral byproduct of a star being bornIts vibrant color indicates the presence of molecular hydrogen.

“As the inflated ball of gas in the center is compressed, it rotates,” he explained in an interview with Foreign Policy magazine. BBC. “But if it spins too fast, it will get blown away, so something has to get rid of the angular momentum… We think it’s jets and outflows.”

According to the BBC, the scene captured by the telescope “would have looked very similar” to what our Sun looked like during its evolution.

The James Webb Space Telescope, which launched at Christmas two years ago, is located more than a million miles away at the so-called “Lagrange Point 2”, and has the ability to take images from deep space, providing evidence of the formation of both stars. And the planets.

“Webb has given us a more complex understanding of galaxies, stars, and the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system than ever before, laying the foundation for NASA to lead the world in a new era of scientific discovery and the search for habitable worlds,” said Nicola Fuchs, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. , Earlier.

It touted the telescope’s potential to reshape understanding of the universe by being able to see “light from the far corners of the universe for the first time.”

It touted the telescope’s potential to reshape understanding of the universe by being able to see “light from the far corners of the universe for the first time.”

“Every new image is a new discovery, enabling scientists around the world to ask and answer questions they could never have dreamed of before.”