'Sharpest' images of the Orion Nebula show how powerful James Webb telescope really is

Camille Fine, USA TODAY
·1 min read
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New images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope pierce through thick layers of stardust and gas, revealing the most-detailed look yet into the heart of the Orion Nebula.

In 2017, an international research team set out to capture a stellar nursery in the constellation Orion – a region situated 1,350 light-years away from Earth – that’s challenging to photograph in visible light due to large amounts of stardust, according to team members from Western University in Canada. With the help of Webb, scientists released the images Monday.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is 100 times more powerful than Hubble Space Telescope and uses infrared light from the cosmos to peer through dense layers of dust. The first images from Webb were released in July.

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Northern region of M42 observed with detector A of NIRCam during observation of the Orion Bar.
Northern region of M42 observed with detector A of NIRCam during observation of the Orion Bar.
The Orion Nebula is a dynamic region of dust and gas where thousands of stars are forming, and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. As a result, it is one of the most scrutinized areas of the night sky and has often been a target for Hubble. This observation was also part of a Hubble mosaic of the Orion Nebula, which combined 520 ACS images in five different colours to create the sharpest view ever taken of the region.
The inner region of the Orion Nebula as seen by both the Hubble Space Telescope (left) and the James Webb Space Telescope (right). Webb’s sensitive infrared vision can peer through thick dust layers and see fainter stars, allowing scientists to study what is happening deep inside the nebula.
The inner region of the Orion Nebula as seen by both the Hubble Space Telescope (left) and the James Webb Space Telescope (right). Webb’s sensitive infrared vision can peer through thick dust layers and see fainter stars, allowing scientists to study what is happening deep inside the nebula.

The images can be used to study how planetary systems form in the presence of intense radiation.

Spectacular structures inside the nebula, including one that may promote a new generation of stars, can be seen in the images. By studying the Orion Nebula, scientists hope to key questions about what happened in the beginning of our solar system’s evolution.

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This composite image shows the inner region of the Orion Nebula as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam instrument.
This composite image shows the inner region of the Orion Nebula as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam instrument.
The inner region of the Orion Nebula as seen by both the Spitzer Space Telescope (left) and the James Webb Space Telescope (right). Both images were recorded with a filter that is particularly sensitive to the emission from hydrocarbon dust that glows throughout the entire image. This comparison strikingly illustrates how incredibly sharp Webb’s images are in comparison to its infrared precursor, the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Planet forming disks of gas and dust around a young star. These disks are being dissipated or “photo-evaporated” due to the strong radiation field of the nearby stars of the Trapezium creating a cocoon of dust and gas around them. Almost 180 of these externally illuminated photoevaporating disks around young stars (aka Proplyds) have been discovered in the Orion nebula, and HST-10 (the one in the picture) is one of the largest known. The orbit of Neptune is shown for comparison.

“Seeing these first images of the Orion Nebula is just the beginning,” said Emilie Habart, a co-leader of the observing science program on Webb. “We are excited to be part of Webb’s journey of discoveries.”

Scientists will analyze the Orion data and “expect new discoveries about these early phases of the formation of stellar systems,” Habart added.

Camille Fine is a trending visual producer on USA TODAY's NOW team. 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Webb Telescope: New images reveal spectacular view of Orion Nebula

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