Inbox Astronomy: NASA's Webb Telescope Unmasks True Nature of the Cosmic Tornado

INBOX ASTRONOMY

NASA's Webb Telescope Unmasks True Nature of the Cosmic Tornado 

Release date: Monday, March 24, 2025 10:00:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Webb’s exquisite details reveal a chance, random alignment of a protostellar outflow and a distant spiral galaxy.

When peering out into space, we get a 2D view of a 3D universe. Sometimes, images will capture objects that appear close to each other on the sky, but are actually at wildly different distances and are unassociated with each other.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured this beautiful juxtaposition of the nearby protostellar outflow known as Herbig-Haro 49/50 with a perfectly positioned, more distant spiral galaxy. Due to the close proximity of this Herbig-Haro object to the Earth, this new composite infrared image of the outflow from a young star allows researchers to examine details on small spatial scales like never before. With Webb, we can better understand how the jet activity associated with the formation of young stars can affect their surrounding environment.

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Find additional articles, images, and videos at WebbTelescope.org

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