The dark clouds in the Taurus-Auriga star forming region, only discernible in infrared light, are the prime target for the James Webb Space Telescope. Using its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), Webb exposes unseen features of the protostar hiding within the “neck” of the hourglass-shaped object in the shadowy cloud L1527. Zooming into this image we see a dark line slashing the center; this is a protoplanetary disk, which also shows illuminated gas and dust that are being expelled from the top and bottom of this disk.
The orange and blue color clouds outline cavities created as material shoots away from the protostar and collides with surrounding matter. We also see molecular hydrogen filaments where more stars could form if the shock and turbulence in the region allow it. In the image, the blue color represents regions where the dust is the thinnest.
L1527 is regarded as a class 0 protostar, the earliest stage of star formation, only about 100,000 years old and with a mass between 20 and 40% of the mass of our Sun. These protostars reside in dense clouds of gas and dust and they still have a long way to go before they can be considered stars in their own right. As these evolve, their core gradually contracts and heats, while continuing to take in mass in the outer regions. As the dense dust and gas are pulled to the protostar's location in the center of the surrounding molecular cloud, the material spirals around the core and produces an accretion disk. The disk in L1527 is roughly the size of our solar system and its material is what supplies the protostar with more fuel. Given its density, part of this disk will likely remain after the star ignites the hydrogen’s nuclear fusion. Hence L1527 offers a portrait of the early evolution of our Sun and solar system.
For more information visit the NASA Webb page https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2022/news-2022-055
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI, J. DePasquale (STScI)