This side-by-side view shows the extended emission regions around the protostar L1527, one of the closest and youngest protostellar systems known, as imaged both by JWST’s NIRCam (left) and MIRI (right) instruments. Located only 460 light-years away in the Taurus molecular cloud, its estimated age of just ~100,000 years makes this newborn system an object of extreme interest. (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI))
Just 460 light-years away, the closest newborn protostars are forming in the Taurus molecular cloud. Here are JWST’s astonishing insights.
All across the Milky Way, new stars continuously form.
This region of space shows a portion of the plane of the Milky Way, with three extended star-forming regions all side-by-side next to one another. The Omega Nebula (left), the Eagle Nebula (center), adn Sharpless 2–54 (right), compose just a small fraction of a vast complex of gas and dust found all through the galactic plane that continuously lead to the formation of newborn stars. (Credit: European Southern Observatory)
Large concentrations of mass gather, triggering gas cloud collapse.
Near Orion’s Belt, the reflection nebula known as the Flame Nebula (left) as well as the star-forming emission nebula known as IC 434 (in red) are joined by a series of dark molecular clouds in the foreground that create spectacular silhouettes known as dark nebulae. The Horsehead Nebula (at center) is arguably the most famous dark nebula of them all. (Credit: Stephanh/Wikimedia Commons)
At high temperatures and densities, nuclear fusion ignites.
This image shows the Orion Molecular Clouds, the target of the VANDAM survey. Yellow dots are the locations of the observed protostars on a blue background image made by Herschel. Side panels show nine young protostars imaged by ALMA (blue) and the VLA (orange). Protoplanetary disks not only are rich in organic molecules, but contain species that are not often seen in typical interstellar dust clouds. For several million years after fusion in the star’s core ignites, circumstellar gas-rich material persists. (Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), J. Tobin; NRAO/AUI/NSF, S. Dagnello; Herschel/ESA)
These newborn stars, with protoplanetary disks, give rise to stellar and planetary systems.
This view from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of the protoplanetary disk, or proplyd, Orion 294–606 showcases not only how magnificent JWST is at imaging objects like this, but also how distant stellar systems truly are from one another, even within the star-forming regions where they’re created. This newly-forming object is due to a collapsing gas cloud and will someday become a star, but is not yet one. Stars only need a small fraction of the heavy elements that the Sun possesses in order to form planets. (Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/McCaughrean & Pearson)
