New James Webb Space Telescope image captures dramatic effects of star formation

(CN) — NASA released a new image from the James Webb Space Telescope on Wednesday showing a pair of nascent stars and the colorful effects their development has had on the surrounding environment.

Bright red, orange and white jets of gas emanate outward from the binary stars-to-be known as Herbig-Haro 46/47, located in the very center of the image. A conical shadow of the accretion disk feeding the stars' growth is also visible at the center of the image, while the surrounding dust cloud glows a light blue. The different colors likely denote the varying chemical compositions of the gas and dust, a spokesperson for the Space Telescope Science Institute told Courthouse News via email.

 "It is likely that the red color represent[s] some mix of hydrogen molecules and carbon dioxide molecules being energized by shocks as the jet slams into the surrounding nebula; yellow is probably a mix of scattered light from the young stars and the fluorescence of complex organic molecules... and possibly some methane; light blue is likely atomic hydrogen; the other colors are broad and probably represent scattered light, dust and gas at different temperatures," the spokesperson said. "But clear identification of the colors with their causes will have to wait for detailed scientific analysis."

The whole dramatic scene is the result of the forming stars' growing pains as they simultaneously take in material and eject it back into space over the course of millennia. Taken as a whole, the two protostars and surrounding material compose what's known as a Herbig-Haro object. These form when streams of ionized gas from developing stars, typically under a million years old, collide with surrounding nebulae at high speed and cause it to glow.

Unlike some stellar objects like pulsars which emit energy at regular intervals, the hydrogen emissions of Herbig-Haro 46/47 are chaotic. Their unpredictable ejections form the amorphous, wisp-like patterns visible in the image.

"When material from more recent ejections runs into older material, it changes the shape of these [emissions]. This activity is like a large fountain being turned on and off in rapid, but random succession, leading to billowing patterns in the pool below it," a news release from NASA accompanying the image explained.

Herbig-Haro 46/47 are located about 1,470 light-years from Earth in the constellation Vela, with the larger hydrogen emission arm on the left tilted slightly away from the JWST's imaging devices. The pair are not "true" stars yet and won't be until they've accumulated enough gas and dust to spark fusion reactions in their cores. It's a process that will take millions of years to complete.

"This particular star pair are estimated to be 10,000 to 100,000 years old. It will take between 1 and 10 million years for them to become 'true' stars," the Space Telescope Science Institute spokesperson said.

As they are, Herbig-Haro 46/47 offer scientists an opportunity to study the very early stages of star formation. For example, the new image highlights how material ejection regulates stars' growth — the forming stars' gravity pulls in clouds of gas and dust, but it also slingshots vast quantities of matter back into space. This limits how much mass the stars can accumulate at any given time.

Scientists have observed the Herbig-Haro 46/47 complex with various visible light telescopes for decades, but the thick dust makes it difficult to observe details in the visible spectrum. The JWST instead captured the new image in near-infrared light, which penetrates the nebula's dusty layers more easily.

The telescope originally captured the image this past May, as part of outreach imaging not associated with any specific research project.

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