APOD: Young Stars, Stellar Jets (2023 Jul 28)

[APOD Robot]

Young Stars, Stellar Jets

Explanation: High-speed outflows of molecular gas from a pair of actively forming young stars shine in infrared light, revealing themselves in this NIRcam image from the James Webb Space Telescope. Cataloged as HH (Herbig-Haro) 46/47, the young stars are lodged within a dark nebula that is largely opaque when viewed in visible light. The pair lie at the center of the prominent reddish diffraction spikes in the NIRcam image. Their energetic stellar jets extend for nearly a light-year, burrowing into the dark interstellar material. A tantalizing object to explore with Webb's infrared capabilities, this young star system is relatively nearby, located only some 1,140 light-years distant in the nautical constellation Vela.

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[Christian G.]

And the nebula said, "Let there be light"!
I just love such close-up images of stars being born (S106, L1527 etc, now this brand new one), they leave me with a quasi mystical feeling of witnessing where it all begins.

[johnnydeep]

I suppose the "tightly bound pair" of stars are too close to distinguish at the center of the prominent red diffraction spikes in this image. Here's a close-up from the zoomable image at one of the links that still doesn't seem to resolve them.

[orin stepanek]

All the Oh's and Aw's I hah for the beautiful Hubble photos will give
way to the beauty from the JWST!

[AVAO]

I suppose the "tightly bound pair" of stars are too close to distinguish at the center of the prominent red diffraction spikes in this image. Here's a close-up from the zoomable image at one of the links that still doesn't seem to resolve them.


hh46,47 center pair.jpg

"The source of HH 46/47 is a binary class I protostar located inside a dark cloud of gas and dust, undetectable at visual wavelengths."

Yes. I also think this is the case.

Click to view full size image

biggg: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/530 ... 2671_o.jpg
jac berne (flickr)

[Chris Peterson]

I suppose the "tightly bound pair" of stars are too close to distinguish at the center of the prominent red diffraction spikes in this image. Here's a close-up from the zoomable image at one of the links that still doesn't seem to resolve them.

Diffraction spikes can only carry a small fraction of the total intensity of the stars that produce them, so they cannot easily mask a star. This image has been processed to bring out faint structures, which means that stars (and diffraction spikes) are massively saturated. But they may not be saturated in the source images, meaning that the stars are likely resolved, but you need the unstretched, high dynamic range data, not the processed aesthetic image.

[AVAO]

Young Stars, Stellar Jets

...Their energetic stellar jets extend for nearly a light-year, burrowing into the dark interstellar material...

Here you can see how the alien head has grown in 28 years

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

Credit: NASA/ESA (HST1995/JWST 2023)

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

Credit: NASA/ESA (HST 2021/JWST 2023)


Credit: ESO/Bo Reipurth
https://www.eso.org/public/ireland/images/eso1336c/

[Ann]

Young Stars, Stellar Jets

...Their energetic stellar jets extend for nearly a light-year, burrowing into the dark interstellar material...

Here you can see how the alien head has grown in 28 years

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

Credit: NASA/ESA (HST1995/JWST 2023)

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

Credit: NASA/ESA (HST 2021/JWST 2023)


Credit: ESO/Bo Reipurth
https://www.eso.org/public/ireland/images/eso1336c/

Absolutely fascinating, AVAO!

And I was not aware that the star creating these well-known jets was located at the edge of a Coalsack-like cloud!

Ann

[VictorBorun]

I wonder if there in fact is a pair of jets drowned in the spikes.
If only the JWST finds the time for another exposure, when the spikes would align differently

[johnnydeep]

I suppose the "tightly bound pair" of stars are too close to distinguish at the center of the prominent red diffraction spikes in this image. Here's a close-up from the zoomable image at one of the links that still doesn't seem to resolve them.

Diffraction spikes can only carry a small fraction of the total intensity of the stars that produce them, so they cannot easily mask a star. This image has been processed to bring out faint structures, which means that stars (and diffraction spikes) are massively saturated. But they may not be saturated in the source images, meaning that the stars are likely resolved, but you need the unstretched, high dynamic range data, not the processed aesthetic image.

Ok, thanks.

[VictorBorun]

James Webb Space Telescope spies giant cosmic question mark in deep space

[Ann]

James Webb Space Telescope spies giant cosmic question mark in deep spaceHerbig-Haro 46+47 (NIRCam Compass Image) 200.jpg
Herbig-Haro 46+47 (NIRCam Compass Image) 400.jpg
Herbig-Haro 46+47 (NIRCam Compass Image) 800.jpg

Absolutely fascinating, Victor!

Ann

[johnnydeep]

James Webb Space Telescope spies giant cosmic question mark in deep spaceHerbig-Haro 46+47 (NIRCam Compass Image) 200.jpg
...

Yes, that is very cool. The ? mark even looks like it's receding from us at an angle, top first, just like the Star Wars movie opening text (though the angle is not nearly as steep)!

[VictorBorun]

The ? mark even looks like it's receding from us at an angle, top first, just like the Star Wars movie opening text (though the angle is not nearly as steep)!

a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

[VictorBorun]

Absolutely fascinating, Victor!
Ann

the black background is the Coal Sack, right[float]

Herbig-Haro 46+47 (NIRCam Compass Image) 20.jpg (564 Bytes) Viewed 3820 times

[/float]

[johnnydeep]

The ? mark even looks like it's receding from us at an angle, top first, just like the Star Wars movie opening text (though the angle is not nearly as steep)!

a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

Yup, that's the text I was referring to.

[johnnydeep]

Absolutely fascinating, Victor!
Ann

the black background is the Coal Sack, right[float]Herbig-Haro 46+47 (NIRCam Compass Image) 20.jpg[/float]

Herbig-Haro 46+47 (NIRCam Compass Image) 1600.jpg

Wait - so all those background galaxies and stars are actually shining THROUGH the Coal Sack Nebula (in near infrared via NIRcam)?

[VictorBorun]

Absolutely fascinating, Victor!
Ann

the black background is the Coal Sack, right[float]Herbig-Haro 46+47 (NIRCam Compass Image) 20.jpg[/float]

Herbig-Haro 46+47 (NIRCam Compass Image) 1600.jpg

Wait - so all those background galaxies and stars are actually shining THROUGH the Coal Sack Nebula (in near infrared via NIRcam)?

my bad, sorry
1) Herbig-Haro 46+47 is not in the Coal Sack; here is just its alike, a nameless Bok globule
2) the question mark shaped distant galaxy is not behind the globule; it's aside of it

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

[VictorBorun]

my attempt to use the questioning galaxy as a character in the text failed.
Still I think it gives a nice idea for extra bold font designers

Herbig-Haro 46+47 (NIRCam Compass Image) 80.jpg (2.08 KiB) Viewed 3782 times

[johnnydeep]

the black background is the Coal Sack, right[float]Herbig-Haro 46+47 (NIRCam Compass Image) 20.jpg[/float]

Herbig-Haro 46+47 (NIRCam Compass Image) 1600.jpg

Wait - so all those background galaxies and stars are actually shining THROUGH the Coal Sack Nebula (in near infrared via NIRcam)?

my bad, sorry
1) Herbig-Haro 46+47 is not in the Coal Sack; here is just its alike, a nameless Bok globule
2) the question mark shaped distant galaxy is not behind the globule; it's aside of it

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

HH 46 47.jpgHH 46 47-.jpg

No problem. I myself was doubly confused, both in thinking that the dark cloud shown here WAS the Coal Sack (thanks to Ann's mention of it, and me overlooking the "-like" qualifier), and also which side of the dusty divide the dark cloud was on (hint: the cloud is brighter in IR than in visible light!). And so, of course, to answer my own question, there really are stars and galaxies shining through the dark - not Coal Sack! - cloud, in the near IR!