The Serpens Nebula , located 1,300 light - years from Earth , is home to a particularly dense clustering of newly forming stars ( about 100,000 year old ) , some of which will finally grow to the mass of our Sun . Webb ’s look-alike of this nebula revealed a pigeonholing of aligned protostellar outflows ( seen in the top exit ) . These jets are describe by undimmed clumpy streaks that appear scarlet , which are shock waves caused when the K hits the surround accelerator and dust . NASA , ESA , CSA , STScI , K. Pontoppidan ( NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory ) , J. Green ( Space Telescope Science Institute )
This arresting new prototype from the James Webb Space Telescope shows the famousSerpens Nebula , a dense asterisk - forming region where unexampled stars are being born amid clouds of rubble and gas . Unlike some other nebula , which are illuminated by radiation from champion that make them to glow , this is a type shout a reflexion nebula , so it only shines due to the light that reflects from other sources .
As well as being visually prominent , this figure is also help uranologist to learn about a special phenomenon related to newborn stars . When star are first take shape , they start up as physical object called protostars , and these protostars can give off extremely energetic green of gas , which comes streaming off their N and south poles .
The Serpens Nebula, located 1,300 light-years from Earth, is home to a particularly dense cluster of newly forming stars (about 100,000 years old), some of which will eventually grow to the mass of our Sun. Webb’s image of this nebula revealed a grouping of aligned protostellar outflows (seen in the top left). These jets are identified by bright clumpy streaks that appear red, which are shock waves caused when the jet hits the surrounding gas and dust.NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, K. Pontoppidan (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory), J. Green (Space Telescope Science Institute)
When this gas streaming off the protostar collides with nearby dust and flatulence , it produce shockwaves , which can be seen in the top left of the double . The crimson streak of molecular atomic number 1 signal these outflows , and one forthwith detectable matter about them is that they are all slanted at the same angle . This is the first time this phenomenon of aligned jet has been detect .
Normally , you would ask that a bunch of protostars would have outflows going in all dissimilar direction . So the fact these are all aligned propose that there is something limited become on in this region , which is affect these young stars .
“ Astronomers say there are a few force play that potentially can shift the direction of the outpouring during this period of a young principal ’s sprightliness , ” Webb scientistsexplain . “ One way is when binary star whirl around each other and wobble in orientation , twisting the direction of the outflows over time . ”
To find out more about the region , Webb scientists plan to apply Webb ’s NIRSpec instrument to realize what the cloud is made of , in accession to this datum from Webb ’s NIRCam official document that was used to capture this paradigm .
