The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) image of the NGC 346 cluster provides insight into the creation of stars at cosmic noon. Following the publication of a new image by the James Webb space telescope, scientists have been granted an unparalleled insight into the creation of stars and the early phases of the cosmos.
NGC 346 is a young star cluster located in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) more than 200,000 light-years from Earth. Scientists are interested in the cluster because it mimics the early cosmos when star production was at its pinnacle. They believe studying the region will provide information on how the earliest stars were created during the cosmic moon about 2 to 3 billion years after the Big Bang.
New Data From JWST Reveals Massive Cluster of Stars in SMC
When compared to the Milky Way, the SMC has fewer amounts of elements heavier than hydrogen or helium, known as metals. According to MailOnline, this is because dust grains in space are largely made of metals, scientists predicted that there would be little dust and that it would be difficult to detect.
But the latest Webb data shows the opposite. Astronomer Margaret Meixner of the Universities Space Research Association and principal investigator of the research team said that a galaxy during cosmic noon would not have a star cluster such as NGC 346. Rather, it would have thousands of star-forming forming regions.
Today, NGC 346 is the only known star cluster actively forming stars in its galaxy, offering insights into the conditions that were present in place at cosmic noon.
The NGC 346 contains clouds of gas and dust in space that are becoming stars, called protostars. Previous infrared investigations of it were focused on protesters weighing between five to eight times the mass of the Sun.
Olivia Jones, a fellow at STFC's UK Astronomy Technology Center, said that JWST's image allows scientists to explore down to lighter-weight protostars to investigate if the lower metal content affects their formation.
In Webb's image, the stars gather gas and dust from the surrounding molecular cloud that made them look like ribbons. That material is collected into an accretion disk that feeds the central protostar. Webb's infrared observations mark the first time scientists detected dust in these disks, revealing the building blocks of stars and planets.
JWST Finds Its First Planet
Before releasing the photo of NGC 346, the space telescope first shared its first planet that looks similar to Earth. Independent reported JWST's achievement of finding a planet that is almost exactly the same size as Earth. With the high precision of the JWST, researchers are pretty sure of their observations.
It is likely to be the first of several planets that JWST will discover and observe in greater detail than ever given that it is the only telescope capable of characterizing the atmospheres of distant planets.
With time, researchers expect to be able to better characterize the faraway planet's atmosphere. However, the findings demonstrate JWST's utility in investigating other worlds, with many more discoveries predicted in the next weeks and months.
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