A cauldron of cosmic creation is being revealed in a new image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Webb has unveiled stars formerly hidden by clouds of dust in a nursery known as NGC 7129300 light-years from Earth.
Stars, the engines of elemental creation, have life cycles that begin with their birth in molecular clouds – cold, dense regions of dust and gas. Because of these dusty cocoons, young stars are often impossible to view by many telescopes, those incapable of capturing infrared light. Webb, however, has a high degree of infrared sensitivity, allowing astronomers to peer through that dust and study the beginning of the star life cycle.
The stars from this cluster are in different stages of their development, as the stars form and evolve the fastest. The large is the region’s luminous central star, LkH 234.
Outflows from an earlier stage of the star’s life cycle carve into the dense molecular cloud of hydrogen. While much of this hydrogen gas is blown away, a large amount is also compressed, creating the conditions for even more stars to form.
A few of these stars are visible within the cavity.
Webb’s high spatial resolution reveals many rich structures in the region’s gas, building on research done previously by NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA and CSA.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed many protostars and stars within the glowing gases of NGC 7129.