An incredible image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope continues to provide new clues about how stars are born. This awe-inspiring photograph depicts the first star HH 212, located approximately 1,300 light-years away from Earth.
A Star’s Birth Moment Captured! HH 212 was first discovered near the Orion Belt in 1993, and astronomers have spent the past thirty years taking pictures to unveil how the emerging star formed slowly.
However, according to Mark McCaughrean, Senior Advisor at the European Space Agency, this capture represents a significant step, as scientists are seeing the “first-ever well-coloured image of the pre-stellar object,” something that was not possible with ground-based telescopes before. The new image reveals complex details about star formation, along with symmetrical pink gas emission clouds coming from both poles of the pre-stellar object where a star’s birth moment was captured. McCaughrean claims that these neon bursts, known as jets or outflows, are a byproduct of star birth and that the vivid color tones indicate the presence of molecular hydrogen. In an interview with the BBC, Mark McCaughrean said, “The bubbly ball of gas in the center is turning as it contracts, but if it rotates too fast, it will break up. So there has to be something to get rid of angular momentum. We think these are jets and outflows.”
Launched on Christmas two years ago, the James Webb Space Telescope is situated at a location known as “Lagrange Point 2,” more than a million miles away and has the capability to capture deep space images that provide clues about the formation of both stars.
