2025 April 9

HH 49: Interstellar Jet from Webb
* Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, JWST
https://www.esa.int/
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/
https://www.stsci.edu/
https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/
https://www.nasa.gov/

Explanation:
What's at the tip of this interstellar jet? First let's consider the jet: it is being expelled by a star system just forming and is cataloged as Herbig-Haro 49 (HH 49). The star system expelling this jet is not visible -- it is off to the lower right. The complex conical structure featured in this infrared image by the James Webb Space Telescope also includes another jet cataloged as HH 50. The fast jet particles impact the surrounding interstellar gas and form shock waves that glow prominently in infrared light -- shown here as reddish-brown ridges. This JWST image also resolved the mystery of the unusual object at HH 49's tip: it is a spiral galaxy far in the distance. The blue center is therefore not one star but many, and the surrounding circular rings are actually spiral arms.
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2025/112/01JNGTQ49XY0NHG1Y31RAGYH1Y
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070811.html
https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/nasas-webb-telescope-reveals-cosmic-tornado-in-action/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbig%E2%80%93Haro_object
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006AJ....132.1923B/abstract

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_GviglW954
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7tPEOVGKkw

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_arm
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240101.html

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250409.html

#space #galaxy #webb #astrophotography #photography #science #nature #NASA

2026 May 3

Trifid Pillars and Jets
* Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI
https://www.nasa.gov/
https://www.esa.int/
https://www.stsci.edu/
* Processing: J. DePasquale (STScI)
https://jdepasquale.com/
https://www.stsci.edu/

Explanation:
Dust pillars are like interstellar mountains. They survive because they are more dense than their surroundings, but they are slowly being eroded away by a hostile environment. Visible in the featured picture by the Hubble Space Telescope is the end of a huge gas and dust pillar in the Trifid Nebula (M20), punctuated by a smaller pillar pointing up and an unusual jet pointing to the upper left. Many of the bright dots are newly formed stars. A star near the small pillar's end is slowly being stripped of its accreting gas by radiation from a tremendously brighter star situated off the top of the image. The jet extends nearly a light-year and would not be visible without external illumination. As gas and dust evaporate from the pillars, the hidden stellar source of this jet will likely be uncovered, possibly over the next 20,000 years.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241022.html
https://youtu.be/ChEHQUMEkXw?t=20
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasas-hubble-dazzles-with-young-stars-in-trifid-nebula/
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifid_Nebula
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251205.html
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/science-highlights/exploring-the-birth-of-stars/
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240507.html
https://science.nasa.gov/universe/stars/
https://youtu.be/QFwfV2A1ZgY
https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ce/fb/c2/cefbc2fb4ca5022aa7f0d5b77d426c50.jpg
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250528.html

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/fap/ap260503.html

#space #nebula #astrophotography #photography #science #nature #NASA #apod