James Webb Space Telescope image of the Serpens Nebula, showing shockwaves caused by jets from new stars colliding with cosmic gas and dust.
The James Webb Space Telescope has given astronomers their first ever view of jets of gas hurtling outwards from newborn stars and smashing into cosmic gas and dust at high speeds.
The phenomena are seen in a new image of the Serpens Nebula, a young reflection nebula – just 1 or 2 million years old – in which new stars are forming.
Astronomers discovered a group of protostellar outflows, formed as jets shoot out from young stars and collide with cosmic material.
Usually these outflows come in a variety of orientations within one region, but in this case they are all aiming in the same direction, to the same degree.
The discovery is providing new insight into the mechanisms by which stars are born in cosmic clouds.
Star formation in the Serpens Nebula
A star is formed when an interstellar gas cloud collapses on itself, due to gravity.
As it does so, it spins more rapidly, and a disc of material forms around the young star, funnelling material into the centre like water going down a plughole.
Swirling magnetic fields launch some of the material into twin jets that shoot outwards into space, perpendicular to the rotating disc.
In this James Webb Space Telescope image of the Serpens Nebula, captured using the NIRCam instrument, the jets are seen as bright red clumpy streaks.
These are shockwaves caused as a jet hits the surrounding gas and dust.
The red colour indicates the presence of molecular hydrogen and carbon monoxide
Webb’s infrared vision means it can see through the cosmic cloud and get a good look at the young stars and their outflows, which would otherwise be obstructed in optical light.
About the Serpens Nebula
The Serpens Nebula is 1 or 2 million years old, which is relatively young in astronomical terms.
It’s home to a dense cluster of newly forming stars (around 100,000 years old), which can be seen at the centre of the image, and some of these may grow to the mass of our Sun.
The Serpens Nebula is a reflection nebula, which means it glows because it’s reflecting the light of stars within or close to the nebula.
In this image, filaments and wisps of varying colours represent reflected starlight from still-forming protostars within the cloud.
“This area of the Serpens Nebula – Serpens North – only comes into clear view with Webb,” says lead author Joel Green of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
“We’re now able to catch these extremely young stars and their outflows, some of which previously appeared as just blobs or were completely invisible in optical wavelengths because of the thick dust surrounding them.”
Read the full science paper (PDF)