These are the most detailed images ever taken of the Horsehead Nebula which were unveiled on Monday. The mane of one of the most recognizable cosmic objects has been scrutinized by James Webb, NASA’s powerful space telescope.
The Horsehead Nebula has fascinated space enthusiasts since its discovery in the late 1800s. Located about 1,300 light years away, in the nearby constellation Orion, its silhouette is reminiscent of the head and neck of an equine, rising above clouds. It formed from the collapse of an interstellar cloud and glows because it is illuminated by a nearby hot star.
The JWST, an engineering gem stationed at Lagrange Point 2, 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, focuses on a part of the mane with a width of approximately 0.8 light years. Thanks to its instruments observing the Universe in infrared, it reveals details that cannot be seen by other telescopes.
A gigantic cloud of gas and dust
These new images show the top of the mane and reveal for the first time the smaller structures forming the edge of the nebula – a dynamic region.
At the bottom of the image, ethereal blue clouds are filled with a variety of materials such as hydrogen, methane and water ice. The red streaks extending above the main nebula represent atomic and molecular hydrogen.
In this zone – known as the photodissociation region – ultraviolet light emitted by young, massive stars nearby creates a region of mostly neutral, hot gas and dust between the fully ionized gas (located above) and the nebula (located below). This UV radiation strongly influences the chemistry of this location and constitutes a significant Source of heat.
The gas clouds surrounding the horse’s head have already dissipated, but the jutting pillar consists of thick clumps of material that are harder to erode. In about 5 million years, this structure will also have disintegrated, scientists say.
Dotted in the background are distant galaxies, as seen in many of Webb’s images.
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These observations allowed astronomers to better understand how these dust clouds emit and block light, as well as to better understand the “multidimensional shape” of the nebula, according to a NASA press release.
THE results were published in the scientific journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Stéphanie Jaquet and the ats
