“JWST Celebrates One-Year Anniversary with Stunning Image of ‘Molecular Cloud'”
Time flies, and it’s been a year since JWST began sharing magnificent views from all over the universe. To commemorate the milestone, NASA released this photo of a “molecular cloud” in which 50 or so new planets are being born.
This nebula, which is called “Xinsuzengsi” in Chinese and Rho Ophiuchi in English, is about 390 light-years away from the earth. On a cosmic scale, it can be said to be our closest neighbor. The birthing stars inside are mostly about the size of our sun, and many have the first signs of protoplanetary disks, making them an important reference for the earliest forms of star and planetary system formation.
In the picture, the dark part in the upper right corner of the center is the area with the highest dust cloud density, which is also the main birthplace of new planets. Behind the dust cloud, two red “jet streams” can be seen extending toward the upper left and lower right. These are the hydrogen molecules ejected toward the poles when a star first initiated nuclear fusion. Just below center in the frame is a star named S1, the only object in the Rho Ophiuchus system with a significantly higher mass than the Sun. Centered on it, there is an area where the dust cloud has been cleared, leaving the lower left void “lit” by S1.
JWST spent a lot of time in the first year of tuning and understanding its capabilities and limitations. Now that astronomers have a clearer understanding of this super telescope, there will only be more and more amazing images waiting for us Bar!