Tales from the faraway universe
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captures celestial wonders from 7600 light years away
“Oh! look at the moon,
She is shining up there;
Oh! Mother, she looks
Like a lamp in the air…”
We all grew up listening to this song by 19th century American writer Eliza Lee Cabot Follen. In a way the moon was the biggest celestial wonder for us kids, with a soothing light unlike the sun, and the stars being too far to be distinguishable.
However, there is a universe beyond what we see, we were taught later. From Milkyway, which is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, to the faraway galaxies with star dust and gas, the celestial wonders are aplenty. The light of the stars that we see today started from the origin many light years back. So, considering the fact that light travels at a speed of 299792458 metres per second, you can guess how wide the universe is!
Kandinsky’s Several Circles
Now, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is taking us to that mysterious universe which found place in our imagination, art and literature, as it has started revealing the emerging stellar nurseries and individual stars that are 7600 light years away.
World’s premier space science observatory
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
In the latest images, Webb reveals emerging stellar nurseries and individual stars that are completely hidden in visible-light pictures. While this is a great sight, the images of the “Cosmic Cliffs” showcase Webb’s cameras’ capabilities to peer through cosmic dust, shedding new light on how stars form, say the scientists. Objects in the earliest, rapid phases of star formation are difficult to capture, but Webb’s extreme sensitivity, spatial resolution, and imaging capability can chronicle these elusive events, according to them.
This landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth. The cavernous area has been carved from the nebula by the intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from extremely massive, hot, young stars located in the center of the bubble, above the area shown in this image, said the scientists who analysed these images.
The blistering, ultraviolet radiation from the young stars is sculpting the nebula’s wall by slowly eroding it away. Dramatic pillars tower above the glowing wall of gas, resisting this radiation. The “steam” that appears to rise from the celestial “mountains” is actually hot, ionized gas and hot dust streaming away from the nebula due to the relentless radiation.
The youngest sources appear as red dots in the dark, dusty region of the cloud. Objects in the earliest, rapid phases of star formation are difficult to capture, but Webb’s extreme sensitivity, spatial resolution, and imaging capability can chronicle these elusive events.
To shed light on star formation
These observations of NGC 3324 will shed light on the process of star formation. Star birth propagates over time, triggered by the expansion of the eroding cavity. As the bright, ionized rim moves into the nebula, it slowly pushes into the gas and dust. If the rim encounters any unstable material, the increased pressure will trigger the material to collapse and form new stars.
Further, Webb will also reveal the impact of star formation on the evolution of gigantic clouds of gas and dust. While the effect of massive stars – with their violent winds and high energy – is often apparent, less is known about the influence of the more numerous low-mass stars. As they form, these smaller stars create narrow, opposing jets seen here, which can inject a lot of momentum and energy into the clouds. This reduces the fraction of nebular material that seeds new stars.
Located roughly 7,600 light-years away, NGC 3324 was imaged by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). NIRCam – with its crisp resolution and unparalleled sensitivity – unveils hundreds of previously hidden stars, and even numerous background galaxies.
In MIRI’s view, young stars and their dusty, planet-forming disks shine brightly in the mid-infrared, appearing pink and red. MIRI reveals structures that are embedded in the dust and uncovers the stellar sources of massive jets and outflows. With MIRI, the hot dust, hydrocarbons, and other chemical compounds on the surface of the ridges glow, giving the appearance of jagged rocks.
Stephan’s Quintet
Stephan’s QuintetIn an enormous new image, James Webb Space Telescope has also revealed the never-before-seen details of galaxy group “Stephan’s Quintet”. The close proximity of Stephan’s Quintet gives astronomers a ringside seat to galactic mergers, interactions, and the new image shows in rare detail how interacting galaxies trigger star formation in each other and how gas in galaxies is being disturbed.
Stephan’s Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies, is best known for being prominently featured in the holiday classic film, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” This enormous mosaic is Webb’s largest image to date, covering about one-fifth of the Moon’s diameter.
It contains over 150 million pixels and is constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files. The information from Webb provides new insights into how galactic interactions may have driven galaxy evolution in the early universe, according to NASA.
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