This time, the ‘James Webb Space Telescope’ (JWST), which can look deeper and further into the universe with infrared light, has revealed tens of thousands of young stars that the ‘Tarantula (tarantula) nebula’ has hidden in cosmic dust and gas.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released a new image of the Tarantula Nebula captured by the Webb Telescope with near and mid-infrared equipment on the 6th. It contains previously unseen young stars, as well as the detailed structure of gas and dust in more distant background galaxies and nebulae.
Captured by the Webb Telescope’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), the Tarantula Nebula resembles a web of cobwebs, a central cavity created from powerful radiation from large, pale blue glowing stars. The surrounding nebula is so dense that it has not been blown away by stellar winds, and it now contains freshly formed protostars.
The mid-infrared device (MIRI) has a longer wavelength than near-infrared light and has a lower temperature, so it caught the light emitted by gases and dust that was not captured by NIRCam.
Spread over 340 light-years within the Large Magellanic Cloud, regarding 161,000 light-years away from Earth, the nebula’s official name is 30 Doradus. It is more commonly known as the ‘tarantula’.
It is the largest and brightest of the star forming regions around our galaxy. In particular, it has attracted the attention of scientists who have studied star formation because its chemical composition is similar to the large star formation region observed at ‘cosmic noon’, when star formation reached its peak several billion years following the Big Bang.
There is no other place in our galaxy that is as active in star forming and chemical composition as the Tarantula Nebula.
For this reason, the Tarantula Nebula is considered to be the closest example of what happened at noon in space and comparable to direct observations.
The star formation region is obscured by thick clouds, so much of it remains a mystery. The Webb telescope is expected to contribute significantly to the study of star formation by providing previously unseen observations in infrared light.
(30)
