Tag Archive for 'Molecular cloud'

Stars, gas and cosmic dust in the Sagittarius B2 molecular cloud glow in near-infrared light, captured by Webb’s NIRCam instrument. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / A. Ginsburg, University of Florida / N. Budaiev, University of Florida / T. Yoo, University of Florida / A. Pagan, STScI.

Webb Observes Interstellar Molecular Cloud Sagittarius B2

Sep 24, 2025 by News Staff

Located in the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, Sagittarius B2 is an enormous molecular cloud of gas and dust roughly 3 million times the mass of the Sun. Stars,...

Cyanocoronene, composed of seven interconnected benzene rings and a cyano group, was found in the cold, dark molecular cloud TMC-1, a region known for its rich chemistry and as a cradle for new stars. Image credit: NSF / AUI / NSF / NRAO / P.Vosteen.

Cyanocoronene: Astronomers Detect Seven-Ring Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon in TMC-1

Jun 16, 2025 by News Staff

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are expected to be the most abundant class of organic molecules in space, yet their their lifecycle in the interstellar...

The Eos cloud sits on the edge of the Local Bubble, a large gas-filled cavity in space that encompasses the Solar System. Image credit: Thomas Müller, HdA & MPIA / Thavisha Dharmawardena, NYU.

Astronomers Detect Huge Molecular Hydrogen Cloud near Our Solar System

Apr 28, 2025 by News Staff

Long invisible to astronomers, the newly-discovered molecular cloud is one of the largest single structures in the sky and among the closest to the Sun...

This composite image shows RCW 106, a star-forming region located in the southern constellation Norma, approximately 12,000 light-years away from Earth. The image imposes a red map of dense gas, imaged with the ArTéMiS camera at APEX, over an optical image taken with ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope. Image credit: ESO / M. Mattern et al.

Denser Molecular Clouds Are Not More Efficient at Forming Stars, Astrophysicists Say

Aug 19, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Despite recent progress, the question of what regulates the star formation efficiency in galaxies remains one of the most debated problems in astrophysics....

L1527, shown in this image from Webb’s MIRI instrument, is a molecular cloud that harbors the IRAS 04368+2557 protostar. The more diffuse blue light and the filamentary structures in the image come from organic compounds known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), while the red at the center of this image is an energized, thick layer of gases and dust that surrounds the protostar. The region in between, which shows up in white, is a mixture of PAHs, ionized gas, and other molecules. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI.

Webb Sees Hourglass-Shaped Molecular Cloud around Protostar

Jul 3, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using the MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) camera aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have captured a striking new photo of the...

An artist’s impression of HD 138202 + CD-30 12303, a binary pair of giant stars located 1,707 light-years away in the constellation of Lupus. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva, Spaceengine / M. Zamani.

New Research Sheds Light on Origin of Chemical Differences in Giant Binary Stars

May 1, 2024 by News Staff

Using the Gemini High-resolution Optical SpecTrograph (GHOST), which is attached to the 8.1-m Gemini South telescope at Cerro Pachón, Chile, astronomers...

This Hubble image shows IC 4633, a spiral galaxy some 100 million light-years away in the constellation of Apus. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), which is mounted on NSF’s Víctor M. Blanco 4-m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Five filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / L. Galbany / J. Dalcanton / Dark Energy Survey / DOE / FNAL / DECam / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / L. Shatz.

Hubble Space Telescope Looks at Obscured Spiral Galaxy

Apr 8, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a striking new photo of the spiral galaxy IC 4633. This Hubble image shows IC 4633,...

Planet-forming disks around young stars and their location within the gas-rich cloud of Taurus, roughly 600 light-years from Earth. In total, the scientists observed 43 stars in the Taurus region, all of which are pictured here (though planet-forming disks were only detected in 39 of these targets). Image credit: ESO / Garufi et al. / IRAS.

VLT Finds Protoplanetary Disks around 86 Young Stars

Mar 5, 2024 by News Staff

New observations of 86 planet-forming disks provide astronomers with a wealth of data and unique insights into how planets arise in different regions of...

This Hubble image shows N79, a star-forming region located 163,000 light-years away in the constellation of Dorado. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / M. Meixner.

Webb Looks at Massive Star-Forming Complex in Large Magellanic Cloud

Jan 23, 2024 by News Staff

Using the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have captured a spectacular image of N79, a region...

The full-field star-subtracted image of G0.253+0.016. Image credit: Ginsburg et al., doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/acfc34.

Webb Observes Mysterious Dark Molecular Cloud in Milky Way’s Central Region

Dec 4, 2023 by News Staff

G0.253+0.016, nicknamed ‘the Brick’ due to its opacity, is among the best-studied infrared dark clouds in our Milky Way Galaxy. It is well-known for...

This image from Webb’s NIRCam short-wavelength channel shows the Orion Nebula, its stars, and many other objects in unprecedented high definition in the near infrared. Many of the young stars are surrounded by dense disks of gas and dust which may be forming planets. In other cases, those disks are being destroyed by the intense ultraviolet radiation and strong winds from the most massive stars in the region. Many of these photoevaporating disks are visible if you zoom into the image. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / M. McCaughrean / S. Pearson.

Webb Snaps New Pics of Orion Nebula

Oct 4, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have captured stunning new images of the Orion Nebula, a diffuse nebula located approximately...

This VISTA image shows IC 2631, a reflection nebula some 500 light-years away in the southern constellation of Chamaeleon. Image credit: ESO / Meingast et al.

VISTA Observes Beautiful Reflection Nebula

Jul 17, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) shot this image of the reflection nebula IC 2631. This VISTA image shows IC 2631, a...

This Webb image shows a part of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Klaus Pontoppidan, STScI.

Webb Celebrates First Anniversary with Spectacular Image of Nearby Star-Forming Region

Jul 12, 2023 by News Staff

The Webb team has released a beautiful image of a small star-forming region in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. This Webb image shows a part of the Rho...

IXPE and Chandra images have been combined to show X-ray data of the area around Sagittarius A. The lower panel combines IXPE data, in orange, with Chandra data in blue. The upper panel depicts a much wider field-of-view of the center of the Milky Way. The thin white lines layered onto the top panel frame the highlighted area, and indicate that the perspective in the bottom panel has been rotated approximately 45 degrees to the right. The combination of IXPE and Chandra data helped the astronomers determine that the X-ray light identified in the molecular clouds originated from Sagittarius A* during an outburst approximately 200 years ago. Image credit: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center / Marin et al. / CXC / SAO / L. Frattare / J.Major / K.Arcand.

IXPE Detects 200-Year-Old Flare from Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole

Jun 22, 2023 by News Staff

The center of the Milky Way Galaxy hosts Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole with a mass of about 4 million solar masses that is very quiescent....

Iglesias-Groth used spectra from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to conduct a search for the aromatic amino acid tryptophan in the interstellar gas of the young star cluster IC 348. Image credit: Jorge Rebolo-Iglesias / NASA / Spitzer Space Telescope.

Amino Acid Tryptophan Detected in Young Star Cluster

Jun 20, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Using infrared spectral data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias astronomer has detected the aromatic amino acid...

The two young, low-mass protostars HR 5999 and HR 6000 illuminate nearby dust, creating the reflection nebula Bernes 149. These stars grew out of the dusty dark cloud of Lupus 3, part of a larger complex of as many as nine dark clouds. Image credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / DOE / NSF / AURA / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / D. de Martin & M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Dark Energy Camera Captures Protostars in Nearby Interstellar Cloud

May 18, 2023 by News Staff

Using the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera at NSF/NOIRLab Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, astronomers have produced a stunning image...

An artist’s impression of a black hole accretion. Image credit: John A. Paice.

Astronomers Observe Extraordinary Accretion Event in Distant Galaxy

May 15, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

AT2021lwx occurred nearly 8 billion years ago and was more than 10 times brighter than any known supernova explosion. The event was likely caused by the...

Ongoing star formation processes as observed by VIRCAM/VISTA in the VISIONS program. The top panel shows L1688 in the Ophiuchus star-forming complex, depicting several dozen prominent young stellar objects located within one of the closest embedded clusters to Earth. The young stars are surrounded by a highly structured cloud composed of gas and dust that is largely being shaped by young, optically revealed hot stars in the vicinity. The bottom panels further highlight the complex morphology of the gaseous, dusty neighborhood of partly concealed young stars in the Ophiuchus molecular clouds L1709 and L1689. Image credit: Meingast et al., doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202245771.

Astronomers Create Infrared Atlas of Five Nearby Star-Forming Regions

May 11, 2023 by News Staff

As part of the VISIONS survey program, astronomers have surveyed five nearby star-forming molecular cloud complexes associated with the constellations...

This artist’s impression shows a distant gas cloud that contains different chemical elements, illustrated here with schematic representations of various atoms. Image credit: L. Calçada / M. Kornmesser / ESO.

VLT Detects Chemical Signatures of Universe’s First Stars in Distant Gas Clouds

May 4, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have detected three distant gas clouds whose chemical composition matches what they expect from the...

This Hubble image shows NGC 1333, a reflection nebula located 1,000 light-years away in the northern constellation of Perseus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI.

Hubble Captures NGC 1333 in Stunning 33rd Anniversary Image

Apr 20, 2023 by News Staff

This new photo of the reflection nebula NGC 1333 was taken in celebration of the 33rd anniversary of the launch of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope...

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