(Photo: Wikimedia Commons/NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) captured stunning celestial fireworks as the country celebrated the Fourth of July. The impressive sight had something to do with an infant star's eruption.
JWST Captures Celestial Fireworks During Fourth of July Celebration
NASA has released a breathtaking photo taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that displays fantastic red, white, and blue pyrotechnics shooting into space.
This cosmic "rocket's red glare" is the furious eruption of an infant star at the center of the blue and white gas and dust cloud, or nebula. The nebula in issue is known as L1527, and it is situated in the Taurus constellation, approximately 460 light-years from Earth.
Its bright protostar, said to be about 100,000 years old, resembles the "body" of a cosmic butterfly within the nebula. The star at this nebula's center is not even a fully formed star yet. These celestial fireworks indicate how the protostar changes into a main sequence star similar to the sun.
JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument most recently observed L1527 and its protostar. The image's core region's white and blue "lobes" are outflows that the protostar emits in opposite directions along its rotating axis as it consumes gas and dust from its natal cocoon to support its expansion.
"Bowshocks" are shockwaves that the outflows produce in the protostar's surrounding molecular gas. These bowshocks resemble the curving water ridges from a boat's passage.
The gas in these shocked regions is being electrified, or "excited," by these bowshocks, which is why they glow in contrast to the surrounding black gas. The blue areas show shocked gas primarily composed of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are carbon-based compounds.
The JWST image reveals a black line in the center of this emerging cosmic butterfly, a disk of stuff surrounding the protostar that is slowly being fed to it.
The occasional "stellar burps" of material from this feeding baby star give the core region its white color. A mixture of ionized neon and dense dust is being driven away from the disorganized feeding protostar, as seen by the white glow above and below the core protostar. The protostar's crimson, spiky smearing is an artifact of JWST's optics.
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Science Behind Fireworks' Color Display
Fireworks have been part of huge celebrations like New Year and Fourth of July. The amazing color display that lit up the dark sky is among the highlights when people celebrate Independence Day. The colors behind the fireworks are reportedly down to the elements used, how they react to heat, and what they produce when burned.
Strontium causes red, calcium causes orange, aluminum causes white, magnesium causes silver, copper causes blue, barium causes green, sodium causes yellow and gold, and mixing copper with strontium produces purple.
Given that purple is created by combining red and blue, it is reasonable that purple lights require a combination of strontium and copper.
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