James Webb Space Telescope celebrates Independence Day by showcasing dazzling 'cosmic fireworks' 460 light-years away

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NASA celebrates the Fourth of July with a dazzling image of an erupting baby star.

The protostar inside the nebula L1527 as imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).
The protostar inside the nebula L1527 as imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)

To mark Independence Day, NASA has released a James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) image showing the frenzied eruption of a young star in vibrant red, white and blue.

The cosmic pyrotechnics come from the nebula L1527, which is located 460 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. 

Similar in shape to an hourglass or a butterfly's wings, the image shows a 100,000-year-old baby star roaring to life inside a gas cloud. Rotating in place, the star is consuming material around its sides while expelling it in vast jets from either pole. 

"This fiery hourglass marks the scene of a very young object in the process of becoming a star," NASA wrote in a statement. "A central protostar grows in the neck of the hourglass, accumulating material from a thin protoplanetary disk, seen edge-on as a dark line."

Related: James Webb Space Telescope captures star going supernova in a dazzling cloud of dust

Stars can take tens of millions of years to form — growing from billowing clouds of turbulent dust and gas to gently glowing protostars, before developing into gigantic orbs of fusion-powered plasma.

The nebula L1527 as seen by the JWST's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument.

The nebula L1527 as seen by the JWST's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)

As stars sputter into life, they fling out material in the form of winds and jets of ionized plasma in a process known as stellar feedback.

The gas surrounding the infant star is usually dark, but the star's outflows produce shockwaves in the gas that cause it to glow. The blue-colored region shows carbon-based molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

To capture the image, NASA used the James Webb Space Telescope's powerful Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).

The JWST also imaged the protostar in the near-infrared spectrum, its outflows appearing in the orangey hues of a spectacular cosmic sunset.

Ben Turner
Ben Turner
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Ben Turner is a U.K. based writer and editor at Live Science. He covers physics and astronomy, tech and climate change. He graduated from University College London with a degree in particle physics before training as a journalist. When he's not writing, Ben enjoys reading literature, playing the guitar and embarrassing himself with chess.