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4w ago

Webb Telescope Unveils Distant Spiral Galaxy at Tip of 'Cosmic Tornado'

The James Webb Space Telescope captures the most detailed image yet of Herbig-Haro 49/50, revealing intricate molecular dynamics and resolving a decades-old mystery.

Image
JWST's image of the "Cosmic Tornado".
This side-by-side comparison shows a Spitzer Space Telescope Infrared Array Camera image of HH 49/50 (left) versus a Webb image of the same object (right) using the NIRCam (Near-infrared Camera) instrument and MIRI (Mid-infrared Instrument). The Webb image shows intricate details of the heated gas and dust as the protostellar jet slams into the material. Webb also resolves the “fuzzy” object located at the tip of the outflow into a distant spiral galaxy. The Spitzer image shows 3.6-micron light in blue, the 4.5-micron in green, and the 8.0-micron in red (IRAC1, IRAC2, IRAC4). In the Webb image, blue represents light at 2.0-microns (F200W), cyan represents light at 3.3-microns (F335M), green is 4.4-microns (F444W), orange is 4.7-microns (F470N), and red is 7.7-microns (F770W). NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, NASA-JPL, SSC

Overview

  • The James Webb Space Telescope has provided a high-resolution image of Herbig-Haro 49/50, a protostellar outflow located approximately 625-630 light-years away in the Chamaeleon constellation.
  • Webb's imaging resolved the fuzzy object at the tip of the outflow, first observed by Spitzer in 2006, as a distant face-on barred spiral galaxy with regions of forming stars and warm dust.
  • The image reveals intricate details of the outflow, including glowing hydrogen and carbon monoxide molecules, as well as energized dust grains, advancing studies of star formation and jet activity.
  • Scientists suspect the protostar Cederblad 110 IRS4, located about 1.5 light-years from HH 49/50, is the source of the jet creating the outflow.
  • The Chamaeleon I Cloud complex, where HH 49/50 is located, is one of the Milky Way's closest star-forming regions and offers insights into environments similar to the Sun's formation.