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  1. NASA Webb Wows With Incredible Detail in Actively Forming Star System

    March 07, 2025Release ID: 2025-111 Missions: Webb

    This near-infrared image shows the history of ejections from the two actively forming stars in Lynds 483.

    At the center is a thin vertical cloud known as Lynds 483 (L483) that is roughly shaped like an hourglass with irregular edges. The lower lobe is slightly cut off. The top lobe is seen in full, petering out at the top.

  2. NASA's Webb Peers into the Extreme Outer Galaxy

    September 12, 2024Release ID: 2024-131 Missions: Webb

    Among the Milky Way’s outskirts is a firecracker show of star formation.

    At center right is a compact star cluster composed of luminous red, blue, and white points of light. Faint jets with clumpy, diffuse material extend in various directions from the bright cluster. Above and to the right is a smaller cluster of stars. Translucent red wisps of material stretch across the scene. Background galaxies are scattered across this swath of space, appearing as small blue-white and orange-white dots or fuzzy, thin disks.

  3. NASA's Webb Captures Celestial Fireworks Around Forming Star

    July 02, 2024Release ID: 2024-125 Missions: Webb

    The colors within this mid-infrared image reveal details about the central protostar’s behavior

    A growing protostar embedded within a molecular cloud. The center of the image shows a bright, red region, where the protostar resides, with a thin, gray lane cutting through it horizontally, which is the protostar’s accretion disk. Above and below this region are white and blue triangular-shaped cavities in the molecular cloud, which give the overall object an hourglass shape. The areas of the cavities closest to the central protostar have more pronounced plumes of white gas and dust that fade to a blue color further from the center. There are red, yellow, orange, blue, and green stars and galaxies scattered across the image.

  4. Pillars of Creation Star in New Visualization from NASA's Hubble and Webb Telescopes

    June 26, 2024Release ID: 2024-020 Missions: Hubble, Webb

    The new visualization enables viewers to explore fundamental questions in science, experience how science is done, and discover the universe for themselves.

    Mosaic of the Pillars of Creation visualization model, composed of 4 alternating strips of Hubble and Webb versions oriented 45 degrees clockwise from vertical.

  5. Cheers! NASA's Webb Finds Ethanol, Other Icy Ingredients for Worlds

    March 13, 2024Release ID: 2024-111 Missions: Webb

    Newfound carbon-containing molecules are key ingredients for potentially habitable planets.

    A vertical image of a region of a molecular cloud. One bright star and several dimmer stars are visible as light spots among the clouds.

  6. NASA's Webb Snaps Supersonic Outflow of Young Star

    September 14, 2023Release ID: 2023-141 Missions: Webb

    Infrared capabilities map out molecular structure of outflow

    At the center is a thin horizontal pinkish cloud known as Herbig-Haro 211 that is uneven with rounded ends, and tilted from bottom left to top right. It takes up about two-thirds of the length of this angle, but is thinner and longer at the opposite angle. At its center is a dark spot. On either side of the dark spot, there are orangish-yellow wisps that extend to light blue wisps. Within the center of those clouds, a pink fluffy streak runs through each lobe. At the ends of each lobe, pink becomes the dominant color. The lobe to the left is fatter. The right lobe is thinner, and ends in a smaller pink semi-circle. Just off the edge of this lobe is a slightly smaller pink semicircle, then a pink sponge-like blob. The background contains several bright stars, each with eight diffraction spikes extending out from the central bright point.

  7. Webb Snaps Highly Detailed Infrared Image of Actively Forming Stars

    July 26, 2023Release ID: 2023-131 Missions: Webb

    Forecast: There’s a 100% chance of recurring two-sided jets for a pair of stars that are actively gathering mass.

    At the center is a thin horizontal orange cloud tilted from bottom left to top right. It takes up about two-thirds of the length of this angle, but is thin at the opposite angle. At its center is red-and-pink star with prominent, eight-pointed diffraction spikes. It has a central yellow-white blob. The background is filled with stars and galaxies.

  8. NASA’s Webb Catches Fiery Hourglass as New Star Forms

    November 16, 2022Release ID: 2022-055 Missions: Webb

    Webb’s NIRCam Instrument Shows the Beginning of Protostar Evolution

    A forming protostar surrounded by a large hourglass-shaped nebula. A bright orange object, the protostar, lies at the center of this image. In front of the protostar is a thin grey line, which is the protostar’s accretion disk. Above the protostar is an orange, triangular cloud of gas that points to the top left of the image. The area closest to the protostar is a brighter orange than the area to the top left, and has more pronounced plumes of orange gas. Below the protostar is another triangular cloud of gas that points to the bottom right of the image. The area closest to the protostar is a blend of pronounced blue and orange plumes of gas. Farther toward the bottom right, the color of the gas turns primarily blue. Stars and galaxies of many different shapes and sizes are scattered around the image, although they are noticeably more absent on the left side of the hourglass.

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