James Webb telescope finds a warped 'Butterfly Star' shedding its chrysalis — Space photo of the week

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The James Webb Space Telescope has snapped a new view of a planet-forming disk within the Taurus star-forming region.

James Webb telescope image of a star that resembles a butterfly
A star's planet-forming disk glows like a butterfly in this new JWST image (Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, M. Villenave et al.)
QUICK FACTS

What it is: A planet-forming disk around a star

Where it is: 525 light-years away, in the constellation Taurus

When it was shared: Aug. 29, 2025

This spectacular new image from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) shows a star cocooned within a massive disk of gas and dust. It's a protoplanetary disk — a ring of dense gas and dust surrounding a young star — where planets are likely forming.

The star system is about 525 light-years away, in the Taurus star-forming region, or Taurus Molecular Cloud, which is within the constellation Taurus in the night sky. It's the closest star-forming region to the solar system, and it's rich in molecular hydrogen, dust and heavier elements from past supernovas. These are raw materials for new stars and planets.

Much of this region is invisible to optical telescopes but is revealed in infrared light. This image is a combination of mostly optical data from the archive of the Hubble Space Telescope and new infrared data from JWST's Near Infrared Camera and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) , the European Space Agency (ESA) wrote in a description of the image.

Related: Will the James Webb telescope lead us to alien life? Scientists say we're getting closer than ever.

MIRI revealed a dark, dusty lane — the protoplanetary disk — that divides the nebula. It blocks the star's light, while surrounding gas and dust scatter the star's light. It's huge — about 40 billion miles (65 billion kilometers) across, or several times wider than the solar system, according to ESA.

The line of sight determines what astronomers can learn from images like this. In face-on images of protoplanetary disks, scientists can sometimes see rings, spirals or gaps where planets are forming. With an edge-on view like this, it's possible to study the thickness of a protoplanetary disk and how dust is distributed around it, both of which are key to understanding how planets form and accumulate mass. Here, dust is expected to settle toward the midplane, creating conditions where grains can clump and grow into planetesimals.

The image comes from a paper published last year in The Astrophysical Journal. The study found that the brightness of the nebula changes, which suggests the inner disk may be warped or misaligned. It's a glimpse into processes that may have shaped our own solar system billions of years ago.

For more sublime space images, check out our Space Photo of the Week archives.

Jamie Carter
Jamie Carter
Live Science contributor

Jamie Carter is a Cardiff, U.K.-based freelance science journalist and a regular contributor to Live Science. He is the author of A Stargazing Program For Beginners and co-author of The Eclipse Effect, and leads international stargazing and eclipse-chasing tours. His work appears regularly in Space.com, Forbes, New Scientist, BBC Sky at Night, Sky & Telescope, and other major science and astronomy publications. He is also the editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com.

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