Unlocking the Secrets of Star Formation: The Cosmic Cliffs and the James Webb Space Telescope
The AO Editors
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope reveals previously hidden stellar nurseries and individual stars in the Carina “Cosmic Cliffs” Nebula.
Image Credit: NASA/JWST
The Cosmic Cliffs or "Carina Nebula", an area at the border of the star cluster NGC 3324 in the constellation Carina, was one of the first science photos provided by JWST. The Cosmic Cliffs region has been the focus of countless research since its discovery by the Hubble Space Telescope sixteen years ago. However, the abundance of gas clouds made detailed observations of the stars impossible for Hubble.
Scientists were able to find 24 molecular hydrogen jet outflows in the region by examining data from JWST's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) at a wavelength of 4.7 microns. These jets and outflows are critical in understanding the early days of stars like our Sun. During this period, which lasts only a few thousand years out of the millions required to form a star, young stars absorb material and subsequently expel some of it in jets and outflows.
A comparison between the Hubble and JWST Shots of the Carina “Cosmic Cliffs” Nebula.
Credit: NASA/JWST
JWST's image of the Cosmic Cliffs opens up new possibilities for studying populations of newborn stars in typical environments in the universe that were previously invisible. By comparing JWST data with existing Hubble data, scientists could determine the evolution of inevitable outflows over time.
JWST's sensitivity to infrared light enables it to peer through cosmic dust and reveal stellar nurseries and individual stars hidden in visible-light images. These observations of NGC 3324 will help shed light on the process of star formation and address some of the great, open questions of modern astrophysics, such as what determines the number of stars that form in a particular region, why stars form with a certain mass.
The telescope will also reveal how star formation influences the evolution of enormous clouds of gas and dust. Scientists can obtain a complete census of the number and impact of low-mass stars throughout the nebula, as they have had very little data on this subject until now. The Cosmic Cliffs region is located roughly 7,600 light-years away and was imaged by JWST’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) (MIRI). NIRCam reveals hundreds of previously hidden stars, whereas MIRI reveals young stars surrounded by the nebula's swirling dust.
