630 light years away This photo shows a spectacular "space tornado"
When stars form, special objects can emerge in space. One of them has been nicknamed the "cosmic whirlwind". An image offers a spectacular insight into the structure.
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- A star is being born around 630 light years from Earth: its birth is reminiscent of whirlwinds.
- The "James Webb" space telescope has photographed the phenomenon in brilliant quality.
- Experts are enthusiastic about the images and hope to gain profound new insights.
Clouds of dark red and orange nebulae seem to rise up in the midst of countless stars, with a spiral galaxy at their apex: the James Webb telescope has taken an impressive image of the so-called cosmic whirlwind.
The whirlwind is about 630 light years away from Earth and is officially called Herbig-Haro 49/50. The spiral galaxy appears to be at the tip of the whirlwind in the image, but in reality it is further away from our home planet.
Herbig-Haro objects consist of ejecta from a young star forming nearby. When the currents hit denser material, shock waves are created that heat the matter. This then cools down by emitting light in the visible and infrared range.
The new telescope images could help experts to better understand the properties of stellar ejections and how this affects the environment. "James Webb" was built jointly by the space agencies in Europe (ESA), the USA (Nasa) and Canada (CSA) and was launched into space at the end of 2021 - after cost explosions and repeated postponements.
