Two New Images from James Webb: Unique Star Formation in NGC 604
James Webb has sent unique images of the star-forming region NGC 604 from the Triangulum Galaxy, uncovering cosmic secrets
The James Webb Space Telescope has delivered to Earth two stunning images of the region known as NGC 604, where stars are born.
This area is located in the Triangulum Galaxy (M33), which is 2.73 million light-years away from us. NASA shared this news, adding details about the observations.
NGC 604 is home to more than two hundred stars in the early stages of their development, and their mass exceeds that of the Sun by hundreds of times.
It is noted that such a high concentration of young, large stars is a unique phenomenon, as no such star-forming region exists in our galaxy, the Milky Way.
The first image, taken in the near-infrared spectrum by the NIRCam camera, shows cosmic "tentacles" and clusters of red light that form due to the influence of stellar winds from the brightest and hottest stars.
These stellar winds create voids in the cloud material, while ultraviolet radiation ionizes the surrounding gas, creating a ghostly glow of bluish-white light.
The second image, taken in the mid-infrared range by the MIRI camera, offers a different view of this star-forming region, where stars are much less visible.
The reason for this is that hot stars emit less light in this range. Instead, massive clouds of cooler gas and dust become more noticeable.
In the MIRI image, red supergiants are visible, huge stars with temperatures lower than our Sun but hundreds of times larger in size.
The age of this star-forming region is estimated to be about 3.5 million years.
It was previously reported that on March 14th, SpaceX has scheduled the date for the third test flight of Starship Super Heavy, aiming for success after two previous unsuccessful launches.