NASA Celebrates Webb's First Year With Close-up Of Stellar Birth

Washington, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Jul, 2023 ) :Jets of red gas bursting into the cosmos, and a glowing cave of dust: NASA unveiled a spectacular new image Wednesday depicting the birth of stars to mark the first anniversary of the James Webb Space Telescope's science operations.

The picture is of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the nearest star-forming region to Earth, whose proximity at 390 light years allows for a crisp closeup uncluttered by foreground stars.

"In just one year, the James Webb Space Telescope has transformed humanity's view of the cosmos, peering into dust clouds and seeing light from faraway corners of the universe for the very first time," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

"Every new image is a new discovery, empowering scientists around the globe to ask and answer questions they once could never dream of." Webb's image shows around 50 young stars, of similar mass to our Sun or smaller.

Some have the signature shadows of circumstellar disks -- a sign that planets may eventually form around them.

Huge jets of hydrogen appear horizontally in the upper third, and vertically on the right.

"These occur when a star first bursts through its natal envelope of cosmic dust, shooting out a pair of opposing jets into space like a newborn first stretching her arms out into the world," NASA, the US space agency, said in a statement.

A glowing cave of dust dominates the lower half of the image, carved out by the star S1 at its center. S1 is the only star in the image significantly bigger than the Sun.

"Webb's image of Rho Ophiuchi allows us to witness a very brief period in the stellar lifecycle with new clarity. Our own Sun experienced a phase like this, long ago, and now we have the technology to see the beginning of another star's story," said Webb project scientist Klaus Pontoppidan.