Behold the Tarantula: James Webb Space Telescope offers hypnotising views of the nebula

While we were still recovering from the eye-watering picture of the phantom galaxy, the James Webb Space Telescope delivered a couple of more jaw-dropping images. The new images released by NASA feature the Tarantula Nebula which is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud roughly 1,61,000 light-years away. In these images, Webb observed parts of the nebula using three of its instruments– the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam).

Webb offers never-seen-before views of Tarantula Nebula

The image above, which stretches 340 light-years across, was observed through NIRCam which uncovered tens of thousands of never-before-seen young stars previously shrouded in cosmic dust. The most striking discovery is that of the bluish sparkling cluster which is an active region of star formation. NASA explained that the cavity next to the yellow-coloured star formed due to the blistering radiation from the stars of this cluster.

On the other hand, the surrounding dense area in the nebula is resisting erosion by the powerful stellar winds of these stars and is forming pillars that include protostars that will further shape the nebula. Thanks to NIRSpec, Webb has captured one such star in action which is emerging from its pillar while maintaining an insulating cloud of dust around it. Contrary to previous beliefs, astronomers now know that this is an extremely young star and not as old as they thought.

There is a second image of the Tarantula nebula which was observed using MIRI. NASA says that this image focuses on the area around the blue star-filled cluster and presents a completely different view of the nebula. In this picture, the cooler gas and dust are seen glowing before the fading hot stars and the points of light indicate embedded protostars gaining mass. According to NASA, the glowing surface of dust clouds, shown in blue and purple, result from the hydrocarbons in the nebula. 

Besides spotting young stars, Webb's images also highlight distant background galaxies through the Tarantula nebula which is the largest and brightest star-forming region in the Local Group (the galaxies nearest our Milky Way).

This nebula is on Webb's target list because it is the closest example of what was happening in the universe when it was just a few billion years old and the process of star formation was at its peak (a time also referred to as the 'cosmic noon'). Astronomers have also confirmed that, unlike our galaxy, this nebula is forming stars at a furious rate with a completely different chemical composition.

"Webb will provide astronomers the opportunity to compare and contrast observations of star formation in the Tarantula Nebula with the telescope’s deep observations of distant galaxies from the actual era of cosmic noon", NASA said in a statement.