Webb telescope: extraordinary images of the Tarantula Nebula

The process of star formation still hides many secrets despite numerous observations with many tools. But the James Webb Space Telescope it helps to make tremendous progress in the knowledge of the universe.

The images captured by the JWST of the Tarantula Nebula have made it possible for thousands of stars just born, but also the composition of the gas and dust that compose it. In addition, other galaxies have been captured in the background.

The region, observed with the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), resembles the house of a tarantula covered with silk produced by the same and has a cavity originated by radiation of a cluster of young and massive stars (blue in color).

The Tarantula Nebula is located about 161,000 light-years from Large Magellanic Cloud and is the largest and brightest star-forming region of the Local group including the Milky Way. Its peculiarity is that it hosts the most massive and hottest stars known.

Over there chemical composition of the nebula makes it interesting for astronomers. This is because it is similar to that of the giant star-forming regions observed in what it is called Cosmic afternoon of the universethat is, when star formation was at its peak and the universe was only a few billion years old.

The researchers observed a kind of small bubble, but the spectra show it isn’t one gas bubble emitted from a star, but from a protective cocoon formed by hydrogen and complex hydrocarbons, in which the star grows away from the radiation of the massive ones present in the nebula.