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The universe is an endlessly fascinating and beautiful place, with so much that we still do not know and even more so that we may never even grasp. Luckily, however, NASA has recently released a stunning image showing us just a brief glimpse of something amazing happening lightyears away.
An amazing photo taken with the James Webb Space Telescope reveals a newborn star, appearing like something from a galaxy far, far away. It turns out that this star may be much closer to home than we think – in fact, it gives us a glimpse into how our own sun looked when it was very young.
This incredible celestial event is occurring around 1,000 light-years away in the Perseus constellation and is known as Herbig-Haro 211 (HH 211). While HH 211 isn’t actually visible in the photograph itself, astronomers can detect its presence due to huge flows of gas and dust streaming out either side of it – signifying that this new star is continuing to grow larger.
It’s currently estimated to be about eight percent as massive as our sun but will likely reach comparable size over the next few million years.
The near-infrared camera on board NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has provided astronomers with unprecedented detail of what’s going on within HH211. Not only has this allowed them to confirm its age at just a few thousand years old, but they’ve also been able to examine exactly what the jets of gas are composed of – discovering that they are mostly molecules rather than atoms or ions like they initially thought.
It seems that these jets move much slower than those seen coming from other protostars which may explain why HH211’s jets contain molecules instead of individual atoms or ions; there simply isn’t enough energy present for them to break apart into simpler components.
The exact reason for why these jets are moving so slowly remains unknown however which makes this image even more exciting from an astronomy perspective.
Professor Tom Ray from Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies commented on the findings stating: “By developing our understanding about how [stars] are born, through breakthroughs such as this, we are deepening our knowledge on how our sun and solar system came into being.” He went on further noting: “Stars are not constant – they have a beginning and an end just like the rest of us, the process however takes thousands of millions of years”.
So while not quite “lightsabers” shooting out across space as Professor Ray jokingly suggests in his statement above – though admittedly there does appear some similarities between them.
These images still offer us an incredible insight into one stage in a star’s life cycle which is often hidden beneath layers of gas and dust obscuring its beauty from Earthly eyes.
