Red nebula, glowing dust: NASA publishes spectacular image of star birth

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Red nebula pouring into the cosmos and glowing dust: On Wednesday, the US space agency NASA published a spectacular new image on the occasion of the first anniversary of the scientific operation of the James Webb telescope, built with German participation. It shows the Rho Ophiuchi cloud, the closest star-forming region to Earth. A sharp image was possible over a distance of 390 light-years.

The image from the Webb telescope shows about 50 young stars. They are comparable in mass to our sun or less. Some show the characteristic shadows of circumstellar disks – a sign that planets may be forming around them. Large hydrogen jets can also be seen in parts of the image. Glowing dust can be seen in the center of the photo.

“The beginning of another star’s story”

The Webb telescope’s image of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud “allows us to see a very short period in the life cycle of a star with new brightness,” explains Klaus Pontoppidan of the James Webb Telescope’s Science Program. “Our own sun went through a phase like this a long time ago and now we have the technology to see the beginning of another star’s story.”

The James Webb telescope uses infrared technology to penetrate clouds of cosmic dust and capture the light of the very first stars. At the heart of the Webb telescope is a concave mirror six and a half meters in diameter. The telescope, which was also built with German participation, was launched in December 2021 after decades of preparation. It is now more than a million miles from Earth.

James Webb telescope makes the sharpest images possible

“In just one year, the James Webb telescope has changed the way humanity sees the cosmos, peering into dust clouds for the first time and seeing light from far reaches of the universe,” said NASA CEO Bill Nelson, 80. ). “Each new image is a new discovery that enables scientists around the world to ask and answer questions they never dreamed possible before.”

The first color image from the telescope was presented on July 11, 2022 during a presentation by US President Joe Biden (80). According to NASA, this was the sharpest image of the early universe. The galaxies shown were formed more than 13 billion years ago and thus relatively shortly after the Big Bang. Since then, other impressive images have been published, such as Jupiter. (AFP)

Source: Blick