a statement James Webb Space TelescopeTuesday, regarding Two amazing pictures of the Tarantula Nebula, a region of the universe in which stars are born at a frantic pace. Providing images of the Tarantula Nebula will further advance scientific knowledge of star formation.
explained US space agency (NASA)in statementthat the Tarantula Nebula, which was given this name in relation to the shape of the gas and dust clouds in it, is located 161,000 light-years away “only”, and it is the largest and most luminous among the star-forming regions in all galaxies close to the galaxy in which the planet Earth is located, and it includes the most famous stars. The well-known and largest.
Scientists have always focused on this nebula to study the process of star formation, but the two images of “James Webb” reveal new details, including thousands of young stars that were not visible until now to previous telescopes.
A number of James Webb’s scientific instruments were used to capture images of the nebula at different wavelengths.
A group of very bright blue young stars appears in the middle of the image captured by the “Nercam” instrument that monitors the near-infrared field that is not visible to the naked eye.
The “Nearspeak” instrument allowed the telescope to observe a star emerging from its dust column, still surrounded by a cloud, a stage in its formation that would not have been possible to monitor without the great capabilities of “James Webb”. Previously, researchers believed that this star is older and at a more advanced stage.
And NASA explained that “star-forming regions within the Milky Way (which includes Earth) do not produce stars at the same rate as the frenetic Tarantula Nebula, and they have different chemical compositions.”
From this point of view, scientists attach great importance to its chemical composition, because it is similar to the regions in which stars were formed when the age of the universe was not more than a few billion years, which is the stage that witnessed the greatest amount of star formation.
The James Webb Telescope, which cost ten billion dollars, was sent into space in December 2021, and actually entered service a few months ago, and is currently stationed regarding 1.5 million kilometers from the planet.
And the US space agency considered that what the telescope has produced so far is only “the beginning of rewriting the history of star formation.”
(AFP)
