NASA Webb Wows With Incredible Detail in Actively Forming Star System
Birds of a feather, we should stick together 💞
A binary pair of actively forming stars is responsible for this shimmering hourglass of gas and dust. Here, Webb’s ability to see near-infrared light reveals incredible detail and structure in Lynds 483 (L483).
The two protostars lie in the center of the hourglass shape, ejecting gas and dust. When more recent cosmic material clashes with old, the varying densities cause the shimmering twists and twirls you see in this image. There are black “voids” where stars don’t shine through (particularly to the left of the bottom part of the hourglass) - this is where dust is so thick that little starlight penetrates. Even Webb, which is designed to see through dust and gas only perceive the background stars as dim pinpoints of light.
Above and below the flattened disk at the center, the dust is thinner and the bright light from the stars shines through, forming the large semi-transparent orange cones that glow around the outline of the hourglass.
Millions of years from now, when the stars have finished forming, and have swept the area clean, they may each be about the mass of our Sun. All that may remain is a tiny disk of gas and dust where planets may eventually form.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Image description: At the center is a thin vertical cloud known as Lynds 483 that is shaped like an hourglass with irregular edges. At lower center are two discrete bright white, tiny blobs of light that have raced away from the hidden central stars. The top lobe shows a more prominent orange U-shape. Orange bleeds into light purple, and brighter pink at its edges. Some background stars are visible through sections of this lobe. Higher up, there is an orange arc. Some brighter pink material extends to the top edges near the center. In the lower lobe, less orange is visible. More opaque light purple is in its top third, rippling out into semi-transparent blues and pinks. The lower lobe has more texture. V-shapes left and right of the lobes are darkest, and the background stars in these areas appear orange. Elsewhere, the black background of space is clearer, speckled with tiny white stars and faint orange galaxies.
NASA Webb Wows With Incredible Detail in Actively Forming Star System
Birds of a feather, we should stick together 💞
A binary pair of actively forming stars is responsible for this shimmering hourglass of gas and dust. Here, Webb’s ability to see near-infrared light reveals incredible detail and structure in Lynds 483 (L483).
The two protostars lie in the center of the hourglass shape, ejecting gas and dust. When more recent cosmic material clashes with old, the varying densities cause the shimmering twists and twirls you see in this image. There are black “voids” where stars don’t shine through (particularly to the left of the bottom part of the hourglass) - this is where dust is so thick that little starlight penetrates. Even Webb, which is designed to see through dust and gas only perceive the background stars as dim pinpoints of light.
Above and below the flattened disk at the center, the dust is thinner and the bright light from the stars shines through, forming the large semi-transparent orange cones that glow around the outline of the hourglass.
Millions of years from now, when the stars have finished forming, and have swept the area clean, they may each be about the mass of our Sun. All that may remain is a tiny disk of gas and dust where planets may eventually form.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Image description: At the center is a thin vertical cloud known as Lynds 483 that is shaped like an hourglass with irregular edges. At lower center are two discrete bright white, tiny blobs of light that have raced away from the hidden central stars. The top lobe shows a more prominent orange U-shape. Orange bleeds into light purple, and brighter pink at its edges. Some background stars are visible through sections of this lobe. Higher up, there is an orange arc. Some brighter pink material extends to the top edges near the center. In the lower lobe, less orange is visible. More opaque light purple is in its top third, rippling out into semi-transparent blues and pinks. The lower lobe has more texture. V-shapes left and right of the lobes are darkest, and the background stars in these areas appear orange. Elsewhere, the black background of space is clearer, speckled with tiny white stars and faint orange galaxies.