NASA marks one year of Webb telescope, posts picture of stars being born

NASA marked the completion of one year of humanity's 'eye in the sky' James Webb Space Telescope by posting a spectacular new image of birth of Sun-like stars. The imageis of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. It is the nearest stellar nursery to Earth.

The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex is 390 light-years away from us. This enables us to take a crisp close-up. And James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful orbital observatory ever built, is much more than being just up to the job.

"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 as quoted by the AFP.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

"Every new image is a new discovery, empowering scientists around the globe to ask and answer questions they once could never dream of."

The image clicked by James Webb Space Telescope shows around 50 young stars. These stars are similar in mass to our Sun or are smaller. Some of them are showing signature shadows of circumstellar disks. This is a sign that planets may eventually form around them.

Huge hydrogen jets

The image shows huge jets of hydrogen which are horizontal in the upper third of the image, and vertical 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," the US space agency said in a statement.

"At the bottom of the image, you can see a young star that's energetic enough that it's blowing a bubble in the cloud of dust and gas from which it was born," Christine Chen, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which operates Webb, told AFP.

She added that the young star is doing so through a combination of its light and a solar wind linked to it.

There is a lot of gas and dust in the intersteller medium. This eventually provides raw material for new star and planets.

"Webb's image of Rho Ophiuchi allows us to witness a very brief period in the stellar life cycle 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 as quoted by AFP.

James Webb telescope was launched in December 2021. The first full colour picture clicked by the telescope was revealed by US President Biden on July 11, 2022.

(With inputs from agencies)

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE