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NASA’s Webb Reveals Stars Sparking to Life in Cosmic Celebration

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July 02, 2026 10:00AM (EDT)Release ID: 2026-124
FS Tau, a star-forming nebula. Clouds of transparent blue and purple gas and dust stretch from the center to the right. Several yellow and white protostars, some showing Webb’s eight-pronged diffraction pattern, are dispersed throughout the clouds. Orange wisps and filaments of gas extend from one of the protostars at the center toward the top left and bottom right corners. There are numerous, distant yellow and white galaxies strewn about the black background of space.

Summary

Outflows reveal characteristics about the region’s protostars and how they influence their environment.

Protostars are often shrouded by the same clouds of dust and gas that they grow in. Astronomers have used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to learn how the protostars that comprise FS Tau, a young star system about 450 light-years away, shape their surroundings. Webb’s high-resolution view also reveals the intricate structures within dense dust clouds, where light scatters and reflects, much like how a fireworks display illuminates the clouds created by these colorful explosions.

Full Article

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the infrared light of numerous features that previously were impossible to see beyond the thick dust of the FS Tau star system. In addition to myriad background galaxies that burst into view like fireworks for the United States’ 250th anniversary celebrations, this image flickers with a number of protostars, or baby stars that are formed from dense pockets of gas and dust. These hot, clumpy, and low-mass objects eventually will become full-fledged stars capable of burning hydrogen in their cores, like our Sun. The protostars of FS Tau ...

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Visit NASA Science to view the full news release including article text and associated Webb imagery, graphics, scientific visualizations, videos, captions, text descriptions, and other information.

News releases highlighting the discoveries of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope are produced for NASA by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, under NASA Contract NAS5-03127. News release content is developed by the News Team in STScI’s Office of Public Outreach.

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