Mastodawn

Enter the Dragon 🐉🥋

Here it is – my new JWST image of the young protostellar outflow system in Cassiopeia called HH288, aka The Dragon Jet.

We discovered it in the 1990s & the NASA/ESA/CSA JWST reveals stunning new detail, including several new jets crossing the main dragon 🙂👍

This is a 4K version – you can view & download the full 12K image here: https://www.flickr.com/gp/markmccaughrean/944q5814f8

For more coverage, see this by @DrCarpineti at: https://www.iflscience.com/dragon-jet-erupts-from-baby-stars-in-stunning-new-jwst-image-82374

#Space #SpaceScience #Astronomy #Photography

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Mark McCaughrean Jan 29

Some additional technical & scientific information in the thread that follows, mostly cut & paste from the image caption on my Flickr account.

But first, a gratuitous video, doing the Ken Burns thing across the scene. No music here, but on my Instagram post, I've used Lalo Schifrin's theme from Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon". Super cheesy, but definitely appropriate 🙂

Take a listen there, if you're still on that hellsite 😬 https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUGFNWQDBzT/

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Javier Manuel Martín Alonso Jan 29

@markmccaughrean Stunning HH288.If these jets are the 'emergency brake' saving a star from its own fury, then we are the survivors of the Sun’s wild coming-of-age dance. We are the stardust that stayed behind, the quiet resonance of a celestial party that threw fire 9 light-years away just so we could have a peaceful orbit. From frenzy came our cradle. 🐉✨☀️#JWST #Astronomy #StarFormationTriggered

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Javier Manuel Martín Alonso

@markmccaughrean Thanks for the favorite!

HH288: Perfect framing of triggered star formation physics. ✨

#JWST #Astronomy #Cosmology