When #NASAWebb observed the Horsehead Nebula in infrared...

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When #NASAWebb observed the Horsehead Nebula in infrared light earlier this year, it took this sharp image of the top of the horse’s “mane,” a distinctive dust and gas structure.

Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA.

The image is more than half-filled by a small section of the Horsehead Nebula, from the bottom up. The clouds are seen up close as thick, whitish streaks and dark voids, as well as textured, fuzzy-looking patterns of dust and gas. The nebula stops at a spiky edge that follows a slight curve. Above it a small number of distant stars and galaxies lie on a dark but multi-colored background.

Like 13 Nov 2024 at 15:18 | Open on astrodon.social

4 comments

kolya

@spacetelescope

13 Nov 2024 at 15:48 | Open on social.cologne

Kelly Lepo

@spacetelescope The JWST Horsehead Nebula image in context.

https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2024/119/01HV6MPV24NH09VKJ4EWHP8Q4E

A horizontal collage of three images of the Horsehead Nebula. The left image is labeled “Euclid (Visible-Infrared)” and shows a dusty red-brown nebula at bottom with wispy blue clouds in the middle and the black background of space at top, with stars throughout. A portion of the nebula shaped like the head of a seahorse juts upward from the thickest part of the nebula into the blue wisps. A small box around it connects to the second image labeled “Hubble (Infrared)”, where the Nebula is zoomed in on. Here the central part of the horse’s head remains a dark, dusty red, while the outer portions become a translucent, ethereal gray. At the top of the horse’s head, a box connects to the third image labeled “Webb (Infrared)”. A clumpy dome of blueish-gray clouds rises about a third of the way into the image, capped with translucent red wisps and, at top, a single, prominent star.

13 Nov 2024 at 16:46 | Open on astrodon.social

Scott Francis

@kellylepo it's amazing to me how as you zoom in, entire galaxies suddenly appear in background! they were there all along, we just couldn't perceive them <3

13 Nov 2024 at 16:53 | Open on infosec.exchange

Kelly Lepo

@darkuncle Yes! One of my favorite things about JWST images are all of the background galaxies.

They show up because of:
• The telescope's large mirror which allows us to take high-resolution images and see faint things.
• The infrared wavelengths the telescope observes at, which allow us to see through most of the interstellar dust. Dust absorbs and scatters light at visible wavelengths.

13 Nov 2024 at 17:03 | Open on astrodon.social

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