Amazing New Webb Images Could Reveal the Secrets of Star Formation

Scientists around the world are getting data back from the new James Webb Space Telescope, and the results are every bit as amazing as predicted. The telescope can observe distant exoplanets and pinpoint the faintest galaxies in the heavens, and at the same time, it has no trouble peering deep into one of the brightest star-forming regions. The international PDRs4All collaboration has released new Webb images that show the intricacies of star formation in the famed Orion Nebula.

Consisting of more than 100 scientists from 18 countries, PDRs4All (Photodissociation Regions for All) began with the aim of doing the work that’s happening right now. “We are blown away by the breathtaking images of the Orion Nebula. We started this project in 2017, so we have been waiting more than five years to get these data,” said astrophysicist Els Peeters of Canada’s Western University.

The Orion Nebula is about 1,350 light-years from Earth, where its star-forming regions make it one of the brightest objects in the infrared sky, according to Western University. That’s why scientists have been anxious to get a peek at the nebula with Webb. Unlike Hubble, which observed the Orion Nebula numerous times, Webb’s sensitive infrared imaging can peer through the clouds of dust and gas to see what’s happening around infant stars.

As you can see below, Webb can see stars that were completely obscured in Hubble images. It also captures much more detail of the cloud structure, including delicate filaments that are rich in hydrocarbon molecules and molecular hydrogen. The images also reveal cocoons around some stars, believed to be the result of intense ultraviolet radiation emitted by young stars, a process known as photo-evaporation. Some stars even show evidence of protoplanetary disks that will go on to form planets in a few million years.

The PDRs4All team is still in the initial phases of analyzing the Webb data, which was captured on Sept. 11 using the NIRCam instrument. The telescope captured multiple frames with different filters, allowing the team to produce the full-color images you see above. Many scientists believe that our solar system formed in a region of space very much like the Orion Nebula some 4.5 billion years ago. The PDRs4All team hopes that a better understanding of star formation in Orion will reveal facets of our own solar system which may not be obvious from our position inside it.

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