NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has once again amazed us with a stunning picture of thousands of young stars never before seen in the Tarantula Nebula.
Officially known as 30 Doradus or NGC 2070 , this stellar nursery is 161,000 light-years distant; it is part of the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of our closest galactic neighbors.
“Take a moment to look at thousands of never-before-seen young stars in the Tarantula Nebula,” NASA said in a press release. “The Tarantula Nebula gets its name from its dusty filaments. The largest and brightest star-forming region near our galaxy, it is home to the hottest and most massive stars known!”
The shape of the nebula in the past was responsible for the nickname of the Tarantula Nebula, due to its long filaments of gas and dust that radiate from its central ring, called a crater, which resembles the legs of a spider.
star dust
Thanks to this new snapshot, we can see details of the structure and composition of the nebula that has fascinated astronomers for many years by possessing a type of chemical composition similar to the huge star-forming regions seen in the so-called ” cosmic noon” of the universe. Where stars are believed to have first formed in the universe. The Magellanic Cloud galaxy is known to have the hottest and most massive stars yet studied by mankind. The nebula has a very primitive composition, hardly contaminated by the heavy elements that make up our planet and even us.
Looking at it through the Webb’s eyes, with the NIRCam camera specifically, the tarantula analogy is totally on point, showing a region similar to a burrowing tarantula’s home, with a silky web lining the structure. In NIRCam images, stars glow pale blue . Blue stars are young and give off a lot of light and stellar winds, sculpting the structures we can see in the nebula.
The center of the nebula has been cleared of gas by the bright blue cluster of stars to the right of center. More blue stars are seen in the clear (and distant red galaxies in the background).
The entire region appears different in Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). Embedded within the stellar nursery clouds are protostars that are still gaining mass. Shorter wavelengths are absorbed or scattered by dust grains in the nebula, and don’t reach Webb to be detected, while longer mid-infrared wavelengths penetrate that dust and reveal details scientists might not. have seen before.
“Despite mankind’s thousands of years of stargazing, the process of star formation still harbors many mysteries, many of them due to our earlier inability to get sharp images of what was happening behind the thick nursery clouds.” stars,” says NASA.
As our own Milky Way does not produce stars of the same chemical composition and dizzying rate as the Tarantula Nebula, being able to contrast and compare observations with James Webb on star formation within the Tarantula Nebula is a privilege. Thanks to JWST today we have a detailed view of an environment that we have never seen before.
This cosmic time machine will be used to observe the first galaxies born in the early universe more than 13.5 billion years ago and to observe the sources of stars, exoplanets and even the moons and planets of our solar system. A new chapter has been opened for astronomical observation.
Referencia: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA.
