NASA’s Webb Telescope reveals the true nature of cosmic tornadoes

Craving on top with cherry ice cream sundae? Random alignment of Herbig-Haro 49/50 (foam outflow from nearby original Protostar – outflow with multiple spiral galaxies may solve the problem. This new composite image combines observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Nircam (near infrared camera) and Miri (mid-infrared instrument) to provide high resolution views to explore the exquisite details of this bubble activity.

The Herbig-Haro object is an outflow from a nearby jet that forms a star-fired launch. Extraction can extend the light-year outflow, ploughing it into denser areas of the material. This creates a shock wave, heating the material to higher temperatures. The material is then cooled by emitting light at visible and infrared wavelengths.

When NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope observed this in 2006, scientists nicknamed Herbig-Haro 49/50 (HH 49/50) as the “Cosmic Tornado” because its spiral appearance is uncertain, but they are not sure about the nature of the “Tornado” tip fuzzy object. By using its higher imaging resolution, Weber provides a different visual impression of HH 49/50 by revealing the fine features of the shocked areas in the outflow, discovering that the fuzzy objects are distant spiral galaxies and displays the ocean of distant background galaxies.

HH 49/50 is located in Chamaeleon I Cloud Complex, one of the closest active star regions in our Milky Way, which creates many low-mass stars similar to our Sun. This cloud complex may be similar to the environment in which our sun forms. Past observations of the area show that the HH 49/50 outflow is far away from us at a speed of 60-190 miles per second (100-300 kilometers per second) and is just a feature of the larger outflow.

Webb’s NiRcam and Miri observations of HH 49/50 track the location of energy particles of luminescent hydrogen molecules, carbon monoxide molecules and dust, represented by orange and red, such as Protostellar Jet Slams entering the area. Weber’s observations explore details on small space scales that will help astronomers model the characteristics of jets and understand how they affect surrounding materials.

The arc-shaped feature in HH 49/50, similar to the water awakening created by the speeding boat, points to the source of this outflow. Based on past observations, scientists suspect that a primitive star called the Cederblad 110 IRS4 is a reasonable driving force for jet activity. Located approximately 1.5 light years outside of HH 49/50 (bottom right corner of Webb image) and is a Class I Protostar. Level I Protostars are young objects (thousands to one million years old) when quality. They usually have discernible disks on the surrounding material, which are still on the atomic board. Scientists recently used Weber’s nircam and Miri observations to study the atom and obtained a list of its cold environment.

These detailed Webb images of the arc in HH 49/50 can more accurately locate the direction to the jet source, but not every arc points in the same direction. For example, there is an unusual outcrop function (in the upper right of the main outflow), which may be another opportunity to overlap with the slow precession of the intermittent ejection source. Additionally, this function may be the result of the main outflow decomposition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_GVIGLW954

The galaxy that appears by chance at the tip of HH 49/50 is a more distant, face-to-face spiral galaxy. It has a blue prominent central bulge that shows the position of the old star. The bulge also shows a hint of “lateral lobes”, which suggests that this may be a galaxy that is prohibited from being used. The red clumps inside the spiral arms show the warm dust and the location of the molded stars. The Milky Way even shows evacuation bubbles in these dusty areas, similar to nearby galaxies that Weber observed in part of the Phangs program.

Weber captured these two unrelated objects in lucky alignment. Over thousands of years, the edge of HH 49/50 will move outward and eventually cover up the distant Milky Way.

Want more? Look at the image carefully, “fly” it in a visual form, and then compare the image of the Webb with that of the Spitzer Space Telescope.

Herbig-Haro 49/50 is located approximately 625 light-years on Earth in the sign Chamaeleon.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s leading space science observatory. Weber will solve the mysteries in our solar system, transcend the distant worlds around other stars, and explore the mysterious structure and origin of our universe and where we are. Weber is an international program of NASA and its partners ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.