Thousands of stars sparkle in the nebulous view of the dazzling lobster of webbb

The nearby stellar nursery highlights the massive stars formation

James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a scene that looks as if it were drawn from the pages of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Yet reality is even more astonishing. What seems like a jagged, star-lit mountain peak shrouded in mist is actually a vast region of cosmic dust, shaped and eroded by intense radiation and powerful winds released by newly formed massive stars.

This region is known as Pismis 24, a young cluster filled with an active stellar nursery. Within it, blazing hot infant stars (some nearly 8 times hotter than the Sun) are hollowing out a cavity in the nebula’s wall. Towering spires of glowing gas rise from this landscape, defying the destructive forces around them. These formations, resembling giant fingers reaching toward the stars, are being compressed and sculpted in ways that trigger the birth of even more stars.

Pismis 24 is among the nearest known regions of massive star formation. It lies at the center of the Lobster Nebula, roughly 5,500 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius.

Glittering Glimpse of Star Birth From NASA’s Webb Telescope

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured a dazzling view of new stars being born. What looks like a rugged, glowing mountain peak wrapped in thin clouds is in fact a vast landscape of interstellar dust, gradually eroded by powerful radiation and fierce stellar winds from nearby massive young stars.

At the heart of this scene lies Pismis 24, a youthful star cluster located within the Lobster Nebula about 5,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius. This cluster hosts one of the nearest regions of intense star formation, offering scientists a rare chance to study how very large stars form and develop. Because of its relative closeness, Pismis 24 is among the best laboratories for observing the extreme conditions surrounding hot, newborn stars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywmu54zy5gq

This scientific visualization takes viewers on a trip to a group of young scintillating stars called Pismis 24. The James Webb space telescope of NASA has captured this fantastic scene in the heart of the lobster nebula, around 5,500 light years of the earth.

The massive mystery of PISMIS 24-1

At the heart of this sparkling cluster is the brilliant Potis 24-1. It is in the center of a tuft of stars above the shredded orange peaks, and the highest arrow points directly to it. Pismis 24-1 appears as a gigantic unique star, and it was once considered the best known star. Scientists have since learned that it is made up of at least two stars, although they cannot be resolved in this image. At 74 and 66 solar masses, respectively, the two known stars are still among the most massive and brightest stars ever seen.

Captured in infrared light by webb[{” attribute=”” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), this image reveals thousands of jewel-like stars of varying sizes and colors. The largest and most brilliant ones with the six-point diffraction spikes are the most massive stars in the cluster. Hundreds to thousands of smaller members of the cluster appear as white, yellow, and red, depending on their stellar type and the amount of dust enshrouding them. Webb also shows us tens of thousands of stars behind the cluster that are part of the Milky Way galaxy.

Infant Stars Sculpt the Nebula

Super-hot, infant stars – some almost 8 times the temperature of the Sun – blast out scorching radiation and punishing winds that are sculpting a cavity into the wall of the star-forming nebula. That nebula extends far beyond NIRCam’s field of view. Only small portions of it are visible at the bottom and top right of the image. Streamers of hot, ionized gas flow off the ridges of the nebula, and wispy veils of gas and dust, illuminated by starlight, float around its towering peaks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ6L7YXZVWE

This zoom-in video shows the location of the young Star Pismis 24 cluster on the sky. He starts with a photo on the ground of the Constellation Scorpius by the late astrophotographer Akira Fujii. The sequence is close to the lobster nebula, using views from the Sky digital investigation. While the video makes houses on a selected part, it fades towards a Vista image in infrared light. The zoom continues on the region around Pismis 24, where it goes to the astonishing image captured by the James Webb space telescope of NASA under an infrared light.

Imposing arrows of gas and dust

The dramatic arrows have moved away from the brilliant wall of gas, residing with incessant radiation and winds. They are like fingers pointing to young hot stars that have sculpted them. The ferocious forces shaping and compressing these arrows cause the formation of new stars. The highest arrow extends over approximately 5.4 light years from its point at the bottom of the image. More than 200 of our solar systems at NeptuneThe orbit could integrate into the width of its tip, which is 0.14 light years.

In this image, the cyan color indicates hot or ionized gas hydrogen heated by young massive stars. Dust molecules similar to smoke here on earth are represented in orange. Red means cooler and denser molecular hydrogen. The darker the red, the more dense the gas. Black designates the densest gas, which did not emit light. Vaporous white characteristics are dust and gas that diffuse starry light.

The James Webb space telescope is the first spatial science observatory in the world, designed to push the limits of discovery. He disentangles mysteries within our own solar system, exploring distant exoplanets and studying the structures and origins of the universe itself. Webb is a global collaboration led by NASA in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

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