NASA celebrates James Webb Space Telescope's 1-year anniversary with colorful stellar nursery image
The stellar nursery contains 50 baby stars, most with similar masses to our Sun. The James Webb Space Telescope enters its second year of science with new ambitious observations ahead.
James Webb Space Telescope captures stellar nursery of baby stars
NASA released a new image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth. This video gives a tour of the complex image.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope provided its own colorful birthday cake Wednesday, marking its first year of observations.
A new image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope released for the first anniversary shows a region about 390 light-years from Earth where stars are born, also known as a stellar nursery.
According to NASA, the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex is the closest star-forming region to Earth. Because of the proximity, Webb didn't have any bright stars blocking the view allowing for a highly detailed image.
The first-anniversary image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope displays star birth like it’s never been seen before, full of detailed, impressionistic texture. The subject is the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth. It is a relatively small, quiet stellar nursery, but you’d never know it from Webb’s chaotic close-up. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (STScI)
(NASA)
If you look at the image above, there is a lot to see. According to NASA, the stellar nursery has 50 baby stars with similar masses to our Sun.
"Webb’s image of Rho Ophiuchi allows us to witness a very brief period in the stellar lifecycle with new clarity," said Klaus Pontoppidan, who served as Webb project scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. "Our own Sun experienced a phase like this, long ago, and now we have the technology to see the beginning of another’s star’s story."
IMAGES OF 7 EARLY-UNIVERSE GALAXIES CAPTURED BY JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE
Dark areas of the image coated in dust have still-forming protostars. Meanwhile, the bright red are jets of molecular hydrogen.
"These occur when a star first bursts through its natal envelope of cosmic dust, shooting out a pair of opposing jets into space like a newborn first stretching her arms out into the world," according to NASA.
The glowing cavern at the center of the image is carved out by a single star, S1.
JWST ‘just getting started’
![NGC 1433 is a barred spiral galaxy with a particularly bright core surrounded by double star forming rings.]()
Image 1 of 11NGC 1433 is a barred spiral galaxy with a particularly bright core surrounded by double star forming rings. (NASA, ESA, CSA, and J. Lee (NOIRLab). Image processing: A. Pagan (STScI))
![Wolf-Rayet stars]()
Image 2 of 11Wolf-Rayet stars are known to be efficient dust producers, and the Mid-Infrared Instrument on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows this to great effect. Cooler cosmic dust glows at the longer mid-infrared wavelengths, displaying the structure of WR 124’s nebula. ( NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team.)
![These Webb images show a part of the Orion Nebula known as the Orion Bar. The largest image, on the left, is from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument. At upper right, the telescope is focused on a smaller area using Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). At the very center of the MIRI area is a young star system with a protoplanetary disk named d203-506. The pullout at the bottom right displays a combined NIRCam and MIRI image of this young system. Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), and the PDRs4All ERS Team]()
Image 3 of 11These Webb images show a part of the Orion Nebula known as the Orion Bar. The largest image, on the left, is from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument. At upper right, the telescope is focused on a smaller area using Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). At the very center of the MIRI area is a young star system with a protoplanetary disk named d203-506. The pullout at the bottom right displays a combined NIRCam and MIRI image of this young system. These Webb images show a part of the Orion Nebula known as the Orion Bar. The largest image, on the left, is from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument. At upper right, the telescope is focused on a smaller area using Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). At the very center of the MIRI area is a young star system with a protoplanetary disk named d203-506. The pullout at the bottom right displays a combined NIRCam and MIRI image of this young system. These Webb images show a part of the Orion Nebula known as the Orion Bar. The largest image, on the left, is from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument. At upper right, the telescope is focused on a smaller area using Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). At the very center of the MIRI area is a young star system with a protoplanetary disk named d203-506. The pullout at the bottom right displays a combined NIRCam and MIRI image of this young system. (ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), and the PDRs4All ERS Team)
![This image of the dusty debris disk surrounding the young star Fomalhaut is from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). It reveals three nested belts extending out to 14 billion miles (23 billion kilometers) from the star. The inner belts – which had never been seen before – were revealed by Webb for the first time.]()
Image 4 of 11This image of the dusty debris disk surrounding the young star Fomalhaut is from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). It reveals three nested belts extending out to 14 billion miles (23 billion kilometers) from the star. The inner belts – which had never been seen before – were revealed by Webb for the first time. (Image Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, A. Gáspár (University of Arizona). (Image processing: A. Pagan (STScI)) ( )
![Image of the Cosmic Cliffs, a region at the edge of a gigantic, gaseous cavity within NGC 3324, captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam).]()
Image 5 of 11Image of the Cosmic Cliffs, a region at the edge of a gigantic, gaseous cavity within NGC 3324, captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)
![The protostar within the dark cloud L1527, shown in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), is embedded within a cloud of material feeding its growth.]()
Image 6 of 11The protostar within the dark cloud L1527, shown in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), is embedded within a cloud of material feeding its growth. (SCIENCE: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI / IMAGE PROCESSING: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI))
![Pillars of Creation]()
Image 7 of 11The Pillars of Creation are set off in a kaleidoscope of color in the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared-light view. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; J. DePasquale, A. Koekemoer, A. Pagan (STScI))
![In this wide-field view, Webb sees Jupiter with its faint rings, which are a million times fainter than the planet, and two tiny moons called Amalthea and Adrastea. The fuzzy spots in the lower background are likely galaxies]()
Image 8 of 11In this wide-field view, Webb sees Jupiter with its faint rings, which are a million times fainter than the planet, and two tiny moons called Amalthea and Adrastea. The fuzzy spots in the lower background are likely galaxies "photobombing" this Jovian view. This is a composite image from Webb’s NIRCam instrument (two filters) and was acquired on July 27, 2022. (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Ricardo Hueso (UPV/EHU) and Judy Schmidt.) ( )
![This side-by-side comparison shows observations of the Southern Ring Nebula in near-infrared light, at left, and mid-infrared light, at right, from NASA’s Webb Telescope.]()
Image 9 of 11This side-by-side comparison shows observations of the Southern Ring Nebula in near-infrared light, at left, and mid-infrared light, at right, from NASA’s Webb Telescope. (IMAGE: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI) ( )
![An enormous mosaic of Stephan’s Quintet is the largest image to date from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, covering about one-fifth of the Moon’s diameter. It contains over 150 million pixels and is constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files. The visual grouping of five galaxies was captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). IMAGE: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI]()
Image 10 of 11An enormous mosaic of Stephan’s Quintet is the largest image to date from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, covering about one-fifth of the Moon’s diameter. It contains over 150 million pixels and is constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files. The visual grouping of five galaxies was captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). IMAGE: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI ( )
![An enormous mosaic of Stephan’s Quintet is the largest image to date from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, covering about one-fifth of the Moon’s diameter. It contains over 150 million pixels and is constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files. The visual grouping of five galaxies was captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).]()
Image 11 of 11An enormous mosaic of Stephan’s Quintet is the largest image to date from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, covering about one-fifth of the Moon’s diameter. It contains over 150 million pixels and is constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files. The visual grouping of five galaxies was captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).IMAGE: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI ( )
JWST became fully operational in July 2022.
Webb has exceeded expectations, and the telescope team believes it will be operating for possibly 20 or 30 years.
Webb senior project scientist Jane Rigby of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center said observations for the second year are just as ambitious, building on data from the past year.
"With a year of science under our belts, we know exactly how powerful this telescope is, and have delivered a year of spectacular data and discoveries," Rigby said. "Webb's science mission is just getting started — there's so much more to come."