Nasa unveiled an “unprecedented” close-up image of the nearest star-forming region to Earth to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the James Webb space telescope’s operation.
The image showcases the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, located 390 light years away, and provides researchers with a detailed view of “sun-like” stars within the region, devoid of any foreground star interference.
Accompanying the release of the image, Nasa issued a statement describing it as a “dynamic image” that defies the apparent tranquility of the region and ignites curiosity about its composition. The image invites further exploration and inquiry into understanding the enigmatic elements captured within.
“Webb’s image of Rho Ophiuchi allows us to witness a very brief period in the stellar lifecycle with new clarity,” said Klaus Pontoppidan, a Webb project scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. “Our own sun experienced a phase like this, long ago, and now we have the technology to see the beginning of another star’s story.”
Some stars in the image displayed “tell-tale shadows indicating protoplanetary discs”, potential future planetary systems in the making, Nasa said.
Within the region depicted in the image, there exists a collection of approximately 50 youthful stars, sharing similarities in mass with the sun or being even smaller.
Notably, the image highlights the presence of immense red bipolar jets composed of molecular hydrogen. These jets manifest when a star emerges from its original dust-filled cocoon, propelling a pair of opposing jets into the surrounding space.
The launch of the £6.8bn James Webb telescope, a collaborative effort between Nasa, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency, took place on Christmas Day 2021.
Despite its substantial budget and prolonged development timeline, the telescope has impressively surpassed expectations, captivating skeptics with a series of groundbreaking images captured from the depths of the cosmos.
By enabling us to peer further back into the origins of the universe, the Webb telescope has offered mesmerizing high-resolution photographs of distant worlds and the enigmatic structures encircling them.
It has facilitated the observation of stars in a fleeting stage just before their demise, unveiled the formation of early galaxies a mere 350 million years after the big bang, and provided evidence of “universe breaker galaxies” of unprecedented size that have the potential to challenge current cosmological theories.
Last week Nasa revealed that Webb had discovered the most distant active supermassive black hole to date, Ceers 1019, which existed just over 570m years from the big bang.
“In just one year, the James Webb space telescope has transformed humanity’s view of the cosmos, peering into dust clouds and seeing light from faraway corners of the universe for the very first time,” Nasa’s administrator, Bill Nelson, said in a statement. “Every new image is a new discovery, empowering scientists around the globe to ask and answer questions they once could never dream of.
“Webb is an investment in American innovation but also a scientific feat made possible with Nasa’s international partners that share a can-do spirit to push the boundaries of what is known to be possible.
“Thousands of engineers, scientists and leaders poured their life’s passion into this mission, and their efforts will continue to improve our understanding of the origins of the universe and our place in it.”
The space agency has arranged a week-long “celebration” of the anniversary of Webb’s first images, including a livestream event on Wednesday night with scientists to discuss the telescope’s impact on exploration and human understanding of the solar system.