This image was captured with Webb's Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam).
US space agency NASA often delights the internet with updates on the latest developments related to galaxies, stars and planets within our solar system. It also shares captivating images captured by its many spacecraft. Now, in its most recent Instagram post, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) dropped a stunning picture of a luminous cloud of material that surrounds a newborn star. The image, taken from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, shows Herbig Haro object 797 (HH 797), which is formed when stellar winds or jets of gas spewing from these newborn stars form shockwaves colliding with nearby gas and dust at high speeds.
"See that string along the bottom of this image? It's made up of 2 baby stars spewing out almost parallel jets of gas. Astronomers used to think there was just one star, but Webb's high-resolution view shows more to the story," NASA wrote in the caption of the post.
"The "string" here is Herbig-Haro (HH) 797. A Herbig-Haro object is the bright region that surrounds newborn stars, formed when the stars' outflows collide with nearby gas and dust at high speeds," it added.
Take a look below:
This image was captured with Webb's Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam). "In the top half of the image, those bright objects are actually thought to contain two further baby stars!" the US space agency explained.
Further, according to NASA, in the lower half of the image is a narrow, horizontal nebula that stretches from edge to edge. It is brightly coloured, mostly in shades of red and pink, but with some green and yellow tinges on the right side as well.
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In the upper half of the image, there is a glowing point with multi-coloured light radiating from it in all directions. A bright star with long diffraction spikes, partially seen, lies along the right edge, NASA said, adding that a few smaller stars are spread around. The background is dark blue and covered in a thin haze, it said.
NASA shared the picture just a few hours ago and since then the post has accumulated more than 53,000 likes and several comments. "Amazing," wrote one user in the comment section. "Looks straight outta Sci-fi movie," said another.