The JWST continues to revolutionise astronomy: It now shows the birth of a Star – Yourweather.co.uk

The protostar inside the dark cloud L1527 with the near-infrared camera (NIRCam) of the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA. Zeus Valtierra Meteored Mexico 11/07/2024 09:49 8 min

Wherever the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) looks in the vast cosmos, matter and energy interact in spectacular exhibitions revealing more details than any other telescope, thanks to the fact that it can see through the dense gas and dust that hides many celestial objects.

In a new image, the JWST has detected a young protostar approximately 100,000 years old. This star, known as L1527, is still in its early stages of formation and is nestled in the molecular cloud that was the one that generated it.

One of the main reasons why NASA, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), built the JWST was precisely to observe these phenomena.

The image in question was captured using the Middle Infrared Instrument (MIRI) of the JWST. Where it is shown that the young protostar continues to grow, accumulating mass of the protoplanetary disk that surrounds it. This disc is crucial for the development of the star, since it provides the necessary material for its growth.

The protostar is not a main sequence star, which means that it is not experiencing nuclear fusion like the Sun does. Although there may be a small amount of deuterium fusion in its nucleus, the protostar generates energy in a different way.

As the gravity of the protostar attracts material to it, it is compressed and heated. The additional energy comes from the shock waves generated by the incoming material that collides with the existing gas. Which illuminates the protostar and its surroundings within the gigantic molecular cloud that generated it.

As young protostars accumulate mass, they generate powerful magnetic fields. These fields, combined with the rotation of the star, move part of the matter away from the protostar.

Thus, as a protostar acquires mass, it also expels part of it into space in spectacular hourglass-shaped jets that emerge from the poles of the star. These jets create visible shock arcs in the surrounding matter, forming filamentous structures.

In the environment of the star L1527 there are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (HAP), organic compounds abundant throughout the Universe that could have contributed to the appearance of life. In the image captured by the JWST, these compounds shine blue, even in the filamentous structures.

The red region in the center of the image is a thick layer of gas and dust that surrounds the young star, illuminated by its energy. The white region between red and blue is a mixture of materials, including more polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (HAP), as well as ionised gases such as neon and other hydrocarbons.

This interaction of matter and energy is transient. The powerful emanations of the protostar will clean much of the gas and dust from its surroundings, preserving its protoplanetary disk. And it will become a main sequence star, easily visible without its veil of gas and dust.

The study of these hydrocarbons and other compounds in the L1527 environment provides us with valuable information about the chemical ingredients that could have played a role in the formation of life in the Universe. Opening up new possibilities for astrobiology and the search for life in other stellar systems.

There are many unanswered questions about the formation of protostars. For example, astrophysicists still do not know exactly how and when the nuclear fusion is triggered that turns a protostar into a main sequence star.

Although astronomers know that there are powerful magnetic fields around the protostars, they do not fully understand how these fields are formed or what role they play in the collapse and rotation of the star.

The JWST has made some progress in this area. Recently, he confirmed that the jets of material expelled by young stars are aligned due to the rotation of the star and its magnetic fields, something that the theory had suggested but had not been confirmed by observations until now.

There are also uncertainties about how binary stars are formed. Are they formed in the same way as solitary stars? Why are there so many binary stars in the universe?

The processes involved play an important role in the formation of planetary systems. Jets and magnetic fields can influence the distribution of the material in the protoplanetary disk, affecting the formation of planets and other celestial bodies.

The study of these phenomena provides information about the formation of planetary systems and the origins of life in the Universe. With each new observation, the JWST brings us one step closer to unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos.

The exact nature of the phenomena that trigger the formation of stars remains a mystery. The shock waves of supernovae can trigger the birth of stars, but what happens in other cases? Is it just a matter of the density of gas and dust?

The answers to these questions will come gradually. Thanks to the ability of the JWST to observe in great detail the young stars and the clouds of gas and dust that surround them, the telescope is advancing in our understanding of these astronomical processes, one image at a time.

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The JWST continues to revolutionise astronomy: It now shows the birth of a Star - Yourweather.co.uk