Going goblin mode. Within the orange-white splotch at the center of this image …
Going goblin mode.
Within the orange-white splotch at the center of this image are 2 actively forming stars. The two stars are buried deep in a disk of gas and dust that feeds their growth. Over thousands of years, the pair repeatedly gobbled up, then spat out the material around them — producing those fiery orange lobes.
The lobes are asymmetrical, with the right one actually angled more towards Earth than the left. The shape of the lobes is influenced by interactions with a surrounding nebula, seen as a blue haze, as well as more recent ejections from the stars. (Though the nebula appears black and opaque in visible light, it’s nearly transparent through Webb’s infrared eyes!)
The stars’ ejections will ultimately determine how much mass they will retain. It’ll take millions of years for these baby stars to grow up and leave the nest, but eventually this area will clear, revealing the fully-fledged stars within. More at our link in bio.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA. Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
Image description: At the center of the image is a horizontal orange cloud known as Herbig-Haro 46/47 that is uneven with rounded ends, and tilted from bottom left to top right. In the middle of this cloud is a yellow-white blob with 8 reddish pink diffraction spikes piercing through it. The left lobe of the cloud is thicker. Just off the edge is a tiny red arc that curves in the opposite direction. The right lobe is thinner, and ends in a smaller orange semi-circle that has a faint purple outline. Just off the edge of this lobe is a slightly smaller orange sponge-like blob. A delicate, semi-transparent blue cloud known as a nebula drifts toward the top of the image and peters out toward the left of the frame. Toward the right and bottom, the nebula ends in a soft ridge set off in a translucent orange. The background is filled with stars and galaxies. Two foreground stars with blue diffraction spikes, seen in the bottom right corner, are especially prominent.
#NASA #Stars #JWST #JamesWebbSpaceTelescope #Space #Astronomy #Nebula #GoblinMode
