Rho Ophiuchi (NIRCam Image)

Stsci_2023-128a_1024

stsci_2023-128a July 12th, 2023

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan and Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

The first anniversary image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope displays star birth like it’s never been seen before, full of detailed, impressionistic texture. The subject is the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth. It is a relatively small, quiet stellar nursery, but you’d never know it from Webb’s chaotic close-up. Jets bursting from young stars crisscross the image, impacting the surrounding interstellar gas and lighting up molecular hydrogen, shown in red. Some stars display the telltale shadow of a circumstellar disk, the makings of future planetary systems. 

The young stars at the center of many of these disks are similar in mass to the Sun, or smaller. The heftiest in this image is the star S1, which appears amid a glowing cave it is carving out with its stellar winds in the lower half of the image. The lighter-colored gas surrounding S1 consists of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a family of carbon-based molecules that are among the most common compounds found in space. 

Provider: Space Telescope Science Institute

Image Source: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-128

Curator: STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA

Image Use Policy: http://stsci.edu/copyright/

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Rho Ophiuchi
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Type > Star Formation
Star > Circumstellar Material > Disk

Distance

Universescale1
360 light years
Stsci_2023-128a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 16h 26m 30.6s
DEC = -24° 22’ 59.7”
Orientation
North is 104.8° CCW
Field of View
3.4 x 3.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Ophiuchus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Webb (NIRCam) Infrared 1.9 µm
Blue Webb (NIRCam) Infrared 2.0 µm
Cyan Webb (NIRCam) Infrared 3.4 µm
Yellow Webb (NIRCam) Infrared 4.4 µm
Red Webb (NIRCam) Infrared 4.7 µm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Blue
Cyan
Yellow
Red
Stsci_2023-128a_1280
×
ID
2023-128a
Subject Category
B.4.1.2   B.3.7.2  
Subject Name
Rho Ophiuchi
Credits
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan and Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
Release Date
2023-07-12T00:00:00
Lightyears
360
Redshift
360
Reference Url
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-128
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Distance in lightyears
Facility
Webb, Webb, Webb, Webb, Webb
Instrument
NIRCam, NIRCam, NIRCam, NIRCam, NIRCam
Color Assignment
Blue, Blue, Cyan, Yellow, Red
Band
Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
1870, 2000, 3350, 4440, 4700
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
2000.0
Reference Value
246.62731126043, -24.38325107015
Reference Dimension
12778.00, 11968.00
Reference Pixel
7029.63085445234, 3787.14403212984
Scale
-0.00000448706, 0.00000448706
Rotation
104.79115902828
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
World Coordinate System resolved using PinpointWCS 0.9.2 revision 218+ by the Chandra X-ray Center FITS X FITS Y EPO X EPO Y 1218.33 1016.19 6807.06 7660.60 1763.85 268.95 9354.38 1348.68 479.76 1738.22 1668.77 10289.82 2059.09 1523.46 20409.79 31818.64 Center Pixel Coordinates: 6389.00 246.62130090013 5984.00 -24.38220408288
Creator (Curator)
STScI
URL
http://stsci.edu
Name
Space Telescope Science Institute Office of Public Outreach
Email
outreach@stsci.edu
Telephone
410-338-4444
Address
3700 San Martin Drive
City
Baltimore
State/Province
MD
Postal Code
21218
Country
USA
Rights
http://stsci.edu/copyright/
Publisher
STScI
Publisher ID
stsci
Resource ID
STSCI-J-p23128a-f-12778x11968.tif
Metadata Date
2023-07-11T14:05:20-04:00
Metadata Version
1.2
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
360 light years

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