(CN) — James Webb Space Telescope researchers put out a new image of a familiar protostar Tuesday, literally capturing the region of stellar gas and dust in a new light.
NASA first released images of the protostar, known as L1527 and located some 460 light-years from Earth in the Taurus constellation, in November 2022. Those images were taken using the Webb telescope's Near-Infrared Camera, which captures images in light wavelengths only slightly longer than what humans can perceive with the naked eye. The images released Tuesday were taken with the telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument, which captures significantly longer wavelengths.
Though both imaging devices operate in the infrared spectrum — allowing scientists to see through stellar regions that appear more opaque in visible light — the difference in wavelengths also changes the apparent colors in the photos. The images released in November 2022 portray L1527 in fiery reds and oranges, while those put out Tuesday appear red, white and blue.
In a statement, James Webb Space Telescope researchers said they used the U.S. flag-colored image to celebrate Independence Day, and compared the molecular cloud around L1527 to "celestial fireworks."
Protostars like L1527 occur in nebulae when gravity pulls enough material together to form a rough sphere. The accretion of gas and dust attracts even more matter, slowly building mass and thermal energy. If the protostar becomes dense and hot enough — about 17.9 million degrees Fahrenheit — hydrogen fusion will begin in its core and a new star is born.
L1527 is far from that milestone. It can take millions of years for hydrogen fusion to spark in the core of a newborn star, and NASA estimates L1527 is only about 100,000 years old.
NASA scientists have previously reported L1527 is not even fully spherical yet, and has only about 20% to 40% the mass of our sun. But the protostar itself is only part of the picture. A protoplanetary disk of gas and dust is also just barely visible as a dark line bisecting the center of the star-to-be. This disk, roughly the diameter of our solar system, feeds L1527's eventual growth into a main sequence star.
Regions of the disk may eventually clump together to form planets — the makings of a new solar system.
The rest of the image is dominated by white and blue plumes that stretch above and below the protoplanetary disk in an hourglass shape. These regions, only visible in infrared light, are outlines of cavities in the surrounding nebulae. They are created when gas and dust that has been drawn into L1527 is subsequently ejected away at high speeds, causing the surrounding material to glow. Their coloration reflects the density of the plumes' composite material, as well as their chemical composition.
The white areas closest to the protostar are composed of a mixture of carbon compounds, dust and ionized neon, while a class of carbonaceous molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are prominent in the bluer regions of the hourglass.
As L1527 matures, these regions will fade away and the star itself will become more visible. But per recent observations, there are other protostars in the Taurus region forming in a similar fashion. James Webb Space Telescope researchers said Tuesday that more observation is required to see if these "celestial firework" displays will spur even more stellar births, or disrupt the surrounding material so much that they inhibit star formation.
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