A cosmic hourglass: Webb captures an image of a protostar shrouded in dark clouds

[embedded content] The L1527 protostar is embedded in a cloud of matter that fuels its growth.

Last month, the James Webb Telescope gave us a spectacular new image of the Pillars of Creation, arguably the most famous image taken by Webb's predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, in 1995 Now the telescope is giving astronomers clues to the formation of a new star, with a stunning image of a dark, hourglass-shaped cloud surrounding a protostar, an object known as L1527.

As we previously reported, the James Webb Space Telescope launched in December 2021 and, after a suspenseful deployment of a sunshade and mirror over several months, began capturing stunning images . First, there was the Deep Field Image of the Universe, released in July. This was followed by images of exoplanet atmospheres, the Southern Ring Nebula, a cluster of interacting galaxies called Stephan's Quintet, and the Carina Nebula, a star-forming region around 7,600 years ago. -light.

In August, we received stunning images of Jupiter, including auroras at both poles that result from Jupiter's strong magnetic field, as well as its thin rings and two of the gas giant's small moons. This was followed a month later by a mosaic image showing a panorama of star formation spanning a staggering 340 light years in the Tarantula Nebula, so named for its long dusty filaments. We were also treated to spectacular images of Neptune and its rings, which have not been directly observed since Voyager 2 flew by the planet in 1989, and, as already mentioned, the Pillars of Creation.

>

This last image is courtesy of Webb's primary imager, the Near Infrared Camera (MIRCam). To capture images of very faint objects, NIRCam's coronagraphs block out any light from nearby brighter objects, much like shielding your eyes from sunlight helps us focus on the scene in front of us. L1527's dark clouds are only visible in infrared, and NIRCam was able to capture features that were previously hidden. Check it out:

Enlarge / Material ejected from the star has cleared cavities above and below, the limits of which are...