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The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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Science & Exploration
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
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Making space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Serpens Nebula north – aligned outflows crop (NIRCam image)
This image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope shows a portion of the Serpens Nebula, where astronomers have discovered a grouping of aligned protostellar outflows. These jets are signified by bright clumpy streaks that appear red, which are shock waves from the jet hitting surrounding gas and dust. Here, the red colour represents the presence of molecular hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
Typically these objects have a variety of orientations within one region. Here, however, they are all slanted in the same direction, to the same degree, like sleet pouring down during a storm. Researchers say the discovery of these aligned objects, made possible only by Webb’s exquisite spatial resolution and sensitivity at near-infrared wavelengths, is providing information about the fundamentals of how stars are born.
[Image description: A portion of the young star-forming region known as the Serpens Nebula. It’s filled with wispy orange and red layers of gas and dust and within that orange dust are several small red plumes of gas that extend from the top left to the bottom right, at the same angle. There are wispy blue filaments of gas in the bottom right corner of the image. Small points of light are sprinkled across the field; the brightest sources in the field have the eight-pointed diffraction spikes that are characteristic of the James Webb Space Telescope.]
Serpens Nebula (NIRCam image)
Zoom into Webb’s view of the Serpens Nebula
Webb captures the spectacular galactic merger Arp 220
Carina Nebula jets (NIRCam narrowband filters)
