In March last year, NASA officially released the shocking scene captured by the Webb Telescope. Just today, NASA added near-infrared high-definition images.The "dragon-shaped jet" landscape captured by the Webb Space Telescope is officially named Herbig-Haro 49/50, and is also affectionately described by scientists as a "Cosmic Tornado."
It is about 1,400 light-years away from the Earth and is located in the constellation Lupus. At least 5-6 outflows in different directions exist at the same time, forming a complex spiral/dragon-shaped structure, with a distant spiral galaxy visible at the end.
It is a typical protostar jet, originating from a protostar named Cederblad 110 IRS4 (which is in the early stage of star formation). The jet process is as follows:
The protostar continuously attracts surrounding gas and dust through gravity, forming a rotating accretion disk. Under the influence of the protostar's magnetic field, part of the material is accelerated to a speed of hundreds of kilometers per second and ejected along the direction of the star's rotation axis.
High-speed jets impact the surrounding interstellar medium, forming bow-shaped shock waves (similar to ship waves). These arc-shaped features are the source of the "dragon-shaped" appearance., and at least 5-6 outflows in different directions indicate that there may be multiple protostars synchronously active in the core region.
The reason why the Webb Telescope can capture such stunning images is inseparable from the support of three core technical advantages:It includes a 6.5-meter primary mirror (5 times that of the Hubble Telescope), infrared band observation (can penetrate interstellar dust), and can work in an ultra-low temperature environment of minus 233°C (reduces the interference of the instrument's own thermal radiation).
