Webb Telescope Spots Two Protostars Locked in a Violent, Million-Year Battle

The universe can be a beautiful but violent place. A new image from the Webb space telescope captures an epic battle between two stars as they launch jets of material toward one another, creating a vigorous scene of colliding gas and dust that will last for roughly one million more years. Using Webb’s near-infrared camera (NIRCam), scientists imaged two actively forming stars that make up Lynds 483 (L483), capturing the massive outburst of material from the stellar pair in high resolution. The two stars have been launching column-like jets at each other for tens of thousands of years, and the shimmering ejections shine in beautiful orange, blue, and purple colors. L483 is located 650 light-years away in the constellation Serpens. The image is bursting with incredible detail, revealing how the material interacts with itself, slowing down or speeding up, and forming different shapes that stretch out across the cosmos. The two protostars can be seen at the center of the hourglass shape ... Read full article.