The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has reached a remarkable milestone as it celebrates its first year in space by capturing a stunning image of a cosmic nursery. The image, unveiled by NASA on Wednesday (July 12), showcases the birth of 50 baby stars within a cloud complex located 390 light-years away.
Cheers to our first year! 🥂
Let’s celebrate one year of Webb science by taking a brand-new look at Sun-like stars being born, in this detailed close-up of Rho Ophiuchi, the closest-star-forming region to Earth. https://t.co/jXJgjb4mFj pic.twitter.com/yi891eVDHp— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) July 12, 2023
The region, known as Rho Ophiuchi, is a relatively tranquil area brimming with illuminated gases, jets of hydrogen, and even dust cocoons harbouring the delicate beginnings of more stars. Each of the young stars captured in the photograph appears to be no larger than our own Sun, providing scientists with unprecedented clarity of this fleeting stage in a star's life.
Klaus Pontoppidan, the project scientist, expressed excitement about the discovery, stating, "Our own Sun experienced a phase like this, long ago, and now we have the technology to witness the beginning of another star's story."
Rho Ophiuchi is the closest known star-forming region to Earth. The absence of foreground stars in the photograph enhances the prominence of intricate details. Notably, some of the stars exhibit shadows, hinting at the potential formation of planets in their vicinity, according to NASA.
The James Webb Space Telescope, with its impressive capabilities, has been delivering extraordinary celestial images over the past year. Launched from French Guiana, the $10 billion infrared telescope represents the pinnacle of astronomical observatories.
It serves as the successor to the renowned Hubble Space Telescope, which has faithfully orbited Earth for 33 years. Positioned one million miles (1.6 million km) away from our planet, Webb scans the universe from a more distant vantage point.
(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)
First Published: Jul 12, 2023 9:01 PM IST
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