The majority of the objects the JWST has observed are so dim that even with binoculars, let alone the naked eye, they are impossible to discern. The Great Nebula and M42 are similar to the Orion Nebula, which is distinct. It appears as a hazy star in the constellation Orion’s Sword and is the nearest star-forming zone to Earth. Imagine what the most powerful space telescope ever launched can view given that even a tiny amateur telescope can see the nebula’s form and some of the nascent stars. You don’t have to, though, because the images have already come.
In terms of astronomy, the Orion Nebula was once a cloud of gas with a mass hundreds of times that of the Sun. Only because it obscured any stars behind it could we have seen it clearly back then. Then, new, some of them enormous, stars began to form as the gas began to condense. The stars are already emitting enough light to illuminate much of the remaining gas even if they have not yet reached their maximum brightness. It is believed that 4.5 billion years ago, in a nebula similar to this one, the Sun and Earth were created.
The JWST can photograph the nebula with a resolution of about 5 light hours, or roughly the distance from the Sun to Neptune, despite the fact that it is 1,344 light-years away and roughly 24 light-years across. The protoplanetary disks surrounding some of the roughly 700 stars that have started to shine within the nebula may now be seen in detail as a result.
Professor Els Peeters of the University of Western Ontario stated that “these new discoveries help us to better grasp how huge stars change the gas and dust cloud in which they are created.”
Large amounts of ultraviolet radiation are directly emitted by massive young stars into the surrounding native cloud, altering both the cloud’s physical structure and its chemical composition. How precisely this works, and how it affects further star and planet formation is not yet well known.”
“A number of thick filaments are readily visible. In the deepest portions of the dust and gas cloud, these filamentary formations might encourage the formation of new stars, according to Dr. Olivier Berné of the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale.
The nebula contains young stars that have disks of gas and dust where planets are forming. Also plainly discernible are small voids blown by the stellar winds and strong radiation of young stars.
The JWST’s primary mirror is substantially larger than Hubble’s, allowing it to gather more light, hence its photos are always more stunning than those taken by Hubble. However, because Hubble’s vision, like that of other Earthly observatories, is obscured by dust that largely filters out visible light, the contrast is especially noticeable here. JWST’s infrared capability was selected in part because it can see into places like this one because infrared light, which it observes, is far less influenced by dust.
