NASA’s Webb Catches: In a recent study, NASA’s Webb Catches Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes were use to monitor the birth of a new star, which they referr to as ‘Hourglass.’ This article will explain how these two space telescopes were able to capture this event and what the future may hold for stars.
What is the Webb Space Telescope?
The Webb Space Telescope is a telescope that will be launch into space in 2018. It is name after James E. Webb, who was the director of NASA during the Apollo program. The telescope is design to observe distant objects in infrar light, which is invisible to human eyes.
The Webb Space Telescope will be able to see things that other telescopes cannot see because it will be orbiting around the Earth. It will not be affect by the Earth’s atmosphere, which can distort images of distant objects.
The telescope is also design to be very sensitive to light. This will allow it to see objects that are very faint, such as stars that are just beginning to form. The Webb Space Telescope will help astronomers answer some of the most important questions about our universe, such as how galaxies form and how stars evolve.
Webb Gets Searing Hourglass as New Star Structures
As new stars begin to form, they often do so within giant clouds of interstellar gas and dust. This can make it difficult for astronomers to study the young star in great detail. However, using the James Webb Space Telescope‘s (JWST) unique infrar capabilities, astronomers were recently able to obtain a clear view of a young star surround by a disk of material from which planets may eventually form.
The JWST observations also reveal that the star, known as HD 142527, is embedd in a large and extend envelope of gas and dust. This “fiery hourglass” nebula gets its name from its appearance in optical light, where it appears as two dense lobes of material surrounding a central region that is almost completely void of matter.
The new JWST observations, however, show that the central region of the hourglass is actually fill with gas and dust that is heat to high temperatures by the young star. This hot gas glows brightly in infrar light, revealing its presence to JWST.
The observations also show that the disk around HD 142527 is much larger than previously thought, extending out to at least 1,500 times the radius of Earth’s orbit around the Sun. This is one of the largest protoplanetary disks ever observ around a young star.
The discoveries were distribut in The Astrophysical Diary Letters.
As NASA’s Webb Catches telescope looks on, a new star is born in a firestorm of hydrogen and dust. The stellar nursery surrounding the newborn star, HD 142527, resembles an hourglass shape as seen in this image from Webb’s infrar camera.
The central star of the hourglass, HD 142527, is about four times the mass of our Sun and still growing. It is accreting material from a surrounding disk of gas and dust at a rate of about 1/100th of solar mass per year. As material falls onto the central star, it releases gravitational energy that makes the star shine brighter and also heats up the disk, causing it to glow in infrar light.
The new image from Webb reveals that most of the emission from the central star and disk is being block by a dense veil of dust near the star. This “protostellar envelope” consists of material that didn’t quite make it into the formation of the central star and so is now orbiting around it. The protostellar envelope glows brightly in infrar light because. It is heat by radiation from the young central star shining through the envelope itself.
What is the Hourglass Nebula?
The Hourglass Nebulais a young planetary nebula in the constellation ofSerpens. It is believe to be about 10,000 years old. And is one of the closest known planetary nebulae to Earth at a distance of only 2,000 light years.
The Hourglass Nebula gets its name from its distinctive shape which is create by two dense lobes of gas. That are expanding outward from a central star. The lobes are separate by a narrow waist of low-density gas. As the central star continues to evolve. It will eventually become a white dwarf and the Hourglass Nebula will dissipate over time.
TheHourglass Nebula was first discover in 1764 by French astronomerCharles Messier. However, it was not until recently that astronomers have been able to study. This nebula in detail using the powerful Hubble Space Telescope and other state-of-the-art telescopes.
Astronomers believe that the Hourglass Nebula may hold clues about the formation of our own Solar System. This is because the central star of the nebula resembles our Sun during its youth. When it was still surround by a protoplanetary disk of dust and gas from which planets eventually form.
How did it form?
As dense clouds of molecular gas and dust collapse under their own weight. They form a rotating disk of material around the young star. Most of the mass from the collapsing cloud ends up in the central star. But a small fraction is funnele onto an orbiting companion star or brown dwarf. As this infalling material hits the companion, it is heat to high temperatures and emits X-rays. These X-rays heat up the surrounding disk of material and cause it to glow brightly in infrar light.
What did we learn from observing this nebula?
We larn that this nebula is very young and dynamic, with a lot of ongoing star formation. The shape of the nebula suggests. That it is being shap by stellar winds and radiation from the central star (or stars).
conclusion
In conclusion, NASA’s Webb Catches telescope has captur an image of a new star being born from a cloud of dust and gas. The star, which is still in its infancy, is surround by a bright hourglass shap nebula. This image provides valuable insight into the early stages of star formation.