Pan of the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex | James Webb Space Telescope

Pan of the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex | James Webb Space Telescope

From our cosmic backyard in the Solar System to distant galaxies near the dawn of time, the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope has delivered on its promise of revealing the Universe like never before in its first year of science operations. To celebrate the completion of a successful first year, a new Webb image has been released of a small star-forming region in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. While the region is relatively quiet, its proximity at 390 light-years makes for a highly detailed close-up, with no foreground stars in the intervening space.

The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex is the closest star-forming region to Earth. It is a relatively small, quiet stellar nursery, but you would never know it from Webb’s chaotic close-up. Jets bursting from young stars crisscross the image, impacting the surrounding interstellar gas and lighting up molecular hydrogen, shown in red. Some stars display the telltale shadow of a circumstellar disc, the makings of future planetary systems.

The young stars at the center of many of these discs are similar in mass to the Sun or smaller. The heftiest in this image is the star S1, which appears amid a glowing cave it is carving out with its stellar winds in the lower half of the image. The lighter-colored gas surrounding S1 consists of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a family of carbon-based molecules that are among the most common compounds found in space.

Webb is an international partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, K. Pontoppidan (STScI), A. Pagan (STScI), N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb)

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: July 12, 2023

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