Overview
- A peer-reviewed Nature study uses JWST to provide time-resolved mineral detections in the protostar EC 53 in the Serpens Nebula.
- EC 53 experiences roughly 18-month accretion bursts lasting about 100 days that heat inner-disk dust enough to crystallize silicates.
- Observations map layered flows with fast polar jets and broader disk winds that can lift newly formed grains off the disk.
- Webb data show outflows strong enough to move crystals outward, though survival and delivery to comet-forming regions remain unproven.
- The findings supply a coherent pathway for crystalline silicates seen in cold comets and suggest the young Sun may have undergone similar bursts.