James Webb telescope finds a cosmic cloud of creation buried in the Sword of Orion
By Jamie Carter 10 hours ago
A new James Webb telescope snap shows off the glowing gas, sculpted jets and newborn stars lurking within the giant cosmic cloud OMC-2, located in the Sword of Orion.
... perhaps the most striking feature of the image is the network of pale, glowing streams and wave-like structures cutting through the cloud. These are created by protostar jets as they collide with the surrounding material, carving out bright ridges and shock fronts. The result is an image that looks sculpted, with curved streams of whitish gas marking how young stars shape their environment.
Each jet, ridge and shadow provides clues about the movement of material through the region and helps astronomers trace how stars form and how their energy changes the surrounding cloud. Its colors and textures reveal a complex environment where gravity pulls material together, young stars ignite and energetic outflows reshape the cloud that gave rise to them.
Article link:
https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/james-webb-telescope-finds-a-cosmic-cloud-of-creation-buried-in-the-sword-of-orion-space-photo-of-the-week
Video link
Video Description:
This video takes the viewer on a journey through space to the constellation Orion (the Hunter), a location familiar to Webb, to reveal the latest ESA/Webb Picture of the Month. This area of the sky is replete with star-forming clouds that make up a complex hundreds of light-years across. We find ourselves in the giant molecular cloud Orion A, of which the familiar Orion Nebula (also known as M42) is just a part; Webb has taken both close-up and wide-angle looks at M42 before.
Credit:
ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, T. Megeath, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb) N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb) Music: Tonelabs – The Red North (www.tonelabs.com)
Pic Description:
Newborn stars launch powerful jets of gas through cosmic clouds in this new scene captured by the James Webb Space Telescope
(Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, T. Megeath, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb) Acknowledgement: M
. H. Özsaraç)