James Webb: A dazzling glimpse into the heart of Orion  

Chaotic differences with Hubble

The constellation of Orion is a region of the sky that has been extensively studied by astronomers. It is so big, so bright and so close to us that it can sometimes be seen even with the naked eye. At a distance of 1,344 light-years from Earth, it is one of the most important study targets for our understanding of star birth and formation. It was discovered in 1610 and since then we have been studying it continuously, but still it has not revealed all its secrets.

So humanity’s most powerful space telescope turned its lens towards Orion and gave us some of the most impressive images we have to date. The images from the NIRCam camera of the James Webb Space Telescope have chaotic differences from those offered by the Hubble Space Telescope until now.

We were blown away by the images of the Orion Nebula. We started this project in 2017 and waited more than 5 years for this data. The new observations will allow us to better understand how massive stars transform the gas and dust in which they are born. Massive new stars emit huge amounts of ultraviolet radiation into the cloud surrounding them, and this changes the physical shape of the cloud as well as its chemical composition. Exactly how this works and how it further affects star and planet formation is not yet known.

Young stars are born from concentrated dust and gas matter found in these nebulae and then collapse under gravity, beginning to gather material from the surrounding cloud, creating a disk as the star rotates. The star formation process itself makes it very difficult to observe, as dust and gas block the emitted light and we cannot see what is happening inside the nebula. However, the infrared spectrum that JWST can observe penetrates the dust and gives us information about regions that are not visible in the visible spectrum.

We have never been able to see the details of the structure of interstellar matter in these environments and understand how planetary systems form in the presence of intense radiation. These images reveal the origin of the interstellar medium in planetary systems.

You can enjoy the new images in full resolution from this link .