Thursday, 2 July 2026

NASA’s Webb Reveals Stars Sparking to Life in Cosmic Celebration

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NASA’s Webb Reveals Stars Sparking to Life in Cosmic Celebration

FS Tau, a star-forming nebula. Clouds of transparent blue and purple gas and dust stretch from the center to the right. Several yellow and white protostars, some showing Webb’s eight-pronged diffraction pattern, are dispersed throughout the clouds. Orange wisps and filaments of gas extend from one of the protostars at the center toward the top left and bottom right corners. There are numerous, distant yellow and white galaxies strewn about the black background of space.

In infrared light, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals bright protostars in star system FS Tau and a tapestry of background galaxies. FS Tau B, the orange protostar slightly right of center, is thought to be responsible for the orange outflows amid the dusty region.

Credits:
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the infrared light of numerous features that previously were impossible to see beyond the thick dust of the FS Tau star system. In addition to myriad background galaxies that burst into view like fireworks for the United States’ 250th anniversary celebrations, this image flickers with a number of protostars, or baby stars that are formed from dense pockets of gas and dust. These hot, clumpy, and low-mass objects eventually will become full-fledged stars capable of burning hydrogen in their cores, like our Sun. The protostars of FS Tau are about 1 to 3 million years old, which is relatively young in cosmic scales. Our Sun, by contrast, is 4.6 billion years old.

Low-mass stars emit less radiation and have less energetic stellar winds than those with larger masses, which means they disrupt their environment at a much lower level. This makes the FS Tau region incredibly useful for studying low-mass star evolution without the same level of environmental interference seen near higher-mass stars. A pair of protostars that creates the largest diffraction pattern seen slightly to the left of center in the image, called FS Tau A, is about half the mass of our Sun.

Image: FS Tau (Webb Image)

Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Even though these objects are young and low-mass, they still can impact their surroundings, partially due to the outflows they emit. These outflows, seen as orange and red wisps and wide sheets, are theorized to come from FS Tau B, the protostar slightly to the right of center that has an orange diffraction pattern. As FS Tau B feeds on the surrounding dust and gas to grow, it ejects some of that matter outward. The wider outflows are thought to come from the interaction between the protostar’s magnetic field and superheated matter closest to the protostar within its accretion disk. The disk is seen as a dark band that cuts across at a 30-degree angle.

The gaps between the outflows, newly discovered in this Webb observation, add to growing evidence that protostars accrete matter in discrete episodes. In the periods where protostars gather material and increase in mass, they also eject superheated matter in different directions. In between these episodes, they are relatively quiet.

Image: FS Tau Side-by-Side (Webb and Hubble Image)

Side-by-side images of FS Tau, a star-forming nebula. The left, labeled Webb, shows clouds of transparent blue and purple gas and dust extending from the center to the right. Several yellow and white protostars, some showing Webb’s eight-pronged diffraction pattern, are within the clouds. Orange wisps of gas extend from one of the protostars at the center toward the top left and bottom right corners. The right, labeled Hubble, shows a bright white point made up of two orbiting stars with a four-pronged diffraction pattern to the right of center. At 2 o’clock from this star, there is another, smaller protostar, surrounded by a dark disk of matter. In the center of the image is a cavity where the clouds are thinner and background stars shine through. The stars and protostar are on the edges of this cavity and are surrounded by dark clouds that appear like thick smoke in the light. A thin, short blue jet of material extends horizontally, emerging from both sides of the disk.

A comparison between the observations of FS Tau by NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. Hubble’s visible-light view shows the star-forming region mostly obscured by thick dust. Webb sees through the dust, revealing how the protostars are shaping their surroundings.

Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

As protostars eject these outflows, they shape their surroundings. This is best shown by the prominent light-blue ridges of dust and gas near FS Tau B. These thicker regions were likely created as outflows struck and compressed matter together. The brightness of these light-blue ridges shows that the nearby protostar’s light is reflected. Moreover, Webb’s sensitivity reveals the varying textures of dust and gas across the entire region.

The range of colors seen in this observation also provides a wealth of information, specifically about where dust is and how much of it obscures the region. Light with bluer wavelengths is absorbed and scattered by dust, while redder-wavelength light is able to slip through. Therefore, background galaxies behind thicker foreground dust appear redder. Alternatively, yellow galaxies have much less dust obscuring them. The few white stars visible in this image are likely in the foreground.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

To learn more about Webb, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/webb

Downloads & Related Information

The following sections contain links to download this article’s images and videos in all available resolutions followed by related information links, media contacts, and if available, research paper and Spanish translation links.

Related Images & Videos

FS Tau (Webb Image)

FS Tau Side-by-Side (Webb and Hubble Image)

FS Tau, a star-forming nebula. Clouds of blue and purple gas and dust stretch from the center to the right. Several yellow and white protostars, some showing Webbu2019s eight-pronged diffraction pattern, are dispersed throughout the clouds. Orange wisps and filaments of gas extend from one of the protostars at the center toward the top left and bottom right. There are numerous, distant yellow and white galaxies against the black background of space. At the bottom left are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points toward 4 ou2019clock. The east arrow points toward 1 ou2019clock. At the lower right is a scale bar labeled 2 light-years. The length of the scale bar is one-sixth the total width of the image. Below the image is a color key showing which NIRCam filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter. From left to right, NIRCam filters are: F090W is blue; F187N is cyan; F212N is green; F277W and F335M are orange; F470N is red.

FS Tau (Webb Compass Image)

An image of FS Tau captured by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.

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Jul 02, 2026

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Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland

Abigail Major
Space Telescope Science Institute
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NASA’s Chandra Examines Milky Way at Arms’ Length

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NASA’s Chandra Examines Milky Way at Arms’ Length

This sequence begins with an artist’s concept showing the Milky Way galaxy as seen from above, with the estimated positions of spiral arms based on previous data. Next is an updated artist’s concept of the Milky Way, where the positions of the two spiral arms most distant from the center of the galaxy have been adjusted based on newly processed X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton. Both arms may be more distant than previously thought.

NASA/CXC/A. Hobart

A new result using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory shows that the outer spiral arms in the Milky Way galaxy may reach wider than previously thought. This finding may lead astronomers to adjust their understanding of our home galaxy’s structure.

A team of astronomers made this discovery by making precise measurements of distances to dust clouds in the Milky Way’s spiral arms using data from both NASA’s Chandra and XMM-Newton, an ESA (European Space Agency) mission with NASA contributions. The results are described in a new paper published Wednesday in the Astronomy & Astrophysics journal.

The researchers determined the distances by studying rings around gamma-ray bursts, some of the brightest bursts of light in the universe, which arise from the collapse of massive stars or the merger of neutron stars. They are located at enormous distances, well beyond the confines of our galaxy.

An artist’s concept showing the Milky Way galaxy as seen from above, with the estimated positions of spiral arms based on previous data, in blue. Overlaid on this is an updated view of the Milky Way showing different positions for the two outermost spiral arms, shown in red and bordered by dashed lines. Both arms may be more distant than previously thought, based on newly processed X-ray data from Chandra and XMM.

NASA/CXC/SAO/M.Weiss

This distance measurement technique capitalized on the phenomenon of light echoes, where the light from the gamma-ray burst bounced off dust clouds in the spiral arms. The diameters of the rings in X-rays give the distances to Earth, with larger rings being generated by dust clouds closer to us.

“This is a very direct way – relying only on geometry – to precisely measure distances to the Milky Way’s spiral arms,” said Beatrice Vaia, who led the study while a PhD student in a joint program between Scuola Universitaria Superiore IUSS Pavia and University of Trento in Italy. “Most other methods rely on assumptions about how the Milky Way rotates, which become increasingly uncertain in the outer regions of our galaxy.”

Despite a century of awareness of the Milky Way’s spiral arms, astronomers are still working toward precise characterization of its arms because of Earth’s position within one. Dust and gas also block the view to other arms.

The researchers used three different gamma-ray bursts to determine the distances to three spiral arms in the Milky Way. In order of increasing distances from the Galactic Center, they are the Perseus, the Outer, and the Outer Scutum-Centaurus arms. Along the direction of one of the bursts, they found that both the Outer and Outer Scutum-Centaurus arms are about 10% more distant than astronomers previously thought.

“The differences are small, but any revision of these distances is important because they are so fundamental for understanding our galaxy,” said co-author Ilaria Fornasiero, who was a PhD student in the same program as the leading author. “For example, this could mean that astronomers have to revise estimates of the mass of the galaxy, because that affects how wide the arms stretch.”

The images include X-ray data from Chandra and optical data from Pan-STARRS. The composite image shows X-ray rings generated by a gamma-ray burst (GRB), a bright X-ray source located outside our galaxy. In a phenomenon called light echoes, the X-rays from the GRB bounced off dust clouds in the spiral arms of our galaxy. The diameters of the rings in the Chandra data give the distances of the dust clouds to Earth, with larger rings being generated by dust clouds closer to us. The GRB is located at the center of the circles defining the rings, to the left of the X-ray data outlined by the white square.

X-ray: NASA/CXC/INAF/B. Vaia et al.; Optical: Pan-STARRS; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N.Wolk & P.Edmonds

The team also used their data to estimate that the dust cloud in the most distant arm is about 3,500 light-years wide. These findings show that their measurements apply to the full thickness of the spiral arm, rather than a random, isolated dust cloud that may not fully be representative of the arm’s location.

While this technique provided major improvements in accuracy according to the researchers, it may be difficult to use it for further measurements because bright gamma-ray bursts that are visible through the plane of the galaxy are rare.

“We’re relying on the universe to provide us with these events, and so far, over 25 years, we’ve only found a handful that we can use,” said co-author Andrea Tiengo of Scuola Universitaria Superiore IUSS Pavia. “That said, we will continue to be on the lookout for more.”

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.

To learn more about Chandra, visit:

https://nasa.gov/chandra

To learn more about NASA’s Chandra mission, visit:

https://nasa.gov/chandra

Visual Description

This release features a short video and a series of images, all related to an updated understanding of our home galaxy’s structure. By studying rings of X-ray light echoes, researchers now believe that two of the Milky Way’s spiral arms may be more distant from the center of the galaxy than previously thought.

The updated understanding of the structure of the Milky Way is highlighted in a short video, which compares two artist concept images. In both images, our spiral Milky Way galaxy is shown face-on. It has a bright white core with several arms that spiral out from the center, like long thin clouds corkscrewing counterclockwise. The two longest arms make a full rotation of the spiral galaxy, and curve all the way around to the upper right of the images.

The first image in the video shows the previous understanding of the Milky Way. Here, the two longest arms are curled around the core in a fairly tight spiral. In the second image, which represents the updated understanding, the two longest arms are more loosely spiraled. Visually, this means there is more open space between the curving arms, which are further away from the bright galaxy core. The video fades back and forth between the two artist concept images to illustrate the structural differences between the two understandings.

These findings are further shown by a static image which overlays the new understanding on top of the earlier understanding. In this artist’s concept illustration, dotted lines and different colors are used to differentiate between the two.

A team of astronomers made this discovery by studying gamma-ray bursts that bounce off of dust clouds in the galaxy’s spiral arms. The resulting rings of X-rays, known as light echoes, were detected and mapped by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton. In a supplemental data image, the light echoes resemble concentric arches of neon blue dots trailing across a speckled sky.

Identifying the position of the Milky Way’s spiral arms through X-ray light echoes has allowed astronomers to use geometry, rather than assumptions about galaxy rotation, to better understand the structure of our galaxy.

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Last Updated

Jul 01, 2026

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Lee Mohon

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Jul 01, 2026

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Wednesday, 1 July 2026

La NASA adjudica nuevas misiones científicas para Base Lunar y adelanta nuevas oportunidades

Current image: Tres representaciones digitales muestran módulos de aterrizaje lunar comerciales de Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines y Firefly en la Luna. La NASA anunció el 30 de junio que estos módulos de aterrizaje entregarán más investigaciones científicas y demostraciones tecnológicas de la NASA en la superficie lunar para el programa Base Lunar de la agencia.

Tres representaciones digitales muestran módulos de aterrizaje lunar comerciales de Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines y Firefly en la Luna. La NASA anunció el 30 de junio que estos módulos de aterrizaje entregarán más investigaciones científicas y demostraciones tecnológicas de la NASA en la superficie lunar para el programa Base Lunar de la agencia.

Créditos: Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, Firefly

Read this news release in English here.

La NASA anunció el martes la selección de tres empresas para llevar a cabo cuatro nuevas misiones a la Luna a finales de 2028 como parte del programa Base Lunar de la agencia. Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace e Intuitive Machines entregarán cargas útiles científicas de la NASA a la superficie lunar mientras la agencia construye el primer puesto de avanzada en otro mundo.

“Estas nuevas adjudicaciones a nuestros socios comerciales, que suman casi 600 millones de dólares para enviar más misiones a la Luna con cargas útiles científicas, demuestran nuestro compromiso de acelerar el esfuerzo para establecer una presencia a largo plazo en la superficie lunar, y nos brindan más oportunidades para desarrollar las capacidades que necesitamos para prosperar allí”, dijo Lori Glaze, administradora asociada de la Dirección de Misiones de Vuelos Espaciales Tripulados de la sede central de la NASA en Washington.

A Astrobotic se le adjudicaron 297,9 millones de dólares en total para dos entregas, mientras que Firefly Aerospace e Intuitive Machines recibieron 144,2 y 148,3 millones de dólares, respectivamente, para una entrega cada una, como parte de la iniciativa de Servicios Comerciales de Carga Útil Lunar (CLPS, por sus siglas en inglés) de la agencia, uno de los pilares de Base Lunar. Cada una usará versiones actualizadas de diseños de módulos de aterrizaje que ya han volado, para permitir la mayor cadencia de misiones de la NASA.

“Estamos construyendo un campo de pruebas para las operaciones de Base Lunar”, dijo Ryan Stephan, director interino de módulos de aterrizaje de carga del programa Base Lunar de la NASA. “Acelerar la cadencia con la que adjudicamos nuevas misiones a la Luna y las oportunidades de lanzamiento nos permite avanzar rápidamente para aprender, repetir y mejorar”.

Con 17 misiones de entrega a la superficie lunar a cargo de múltiples proveedores, la NASA también anunció nuevas oportunidades para que la industria estadounidense contribuya a la Base Lunar. La agencia está barajando planes para enviar a la Luna el Vehículo de Exploración Polar para Observación, Cartografía y Exploración In Situ (PROMISE, por su acrónimo en inglés), una versión de desarrollo de ingeniería del rover Perseverance en Marte. Los expertos de la agencia definirán las posibles oportunidades de PROMISE para caracterizar la superficie lunar y el subsuelo, y para prospectar recursos.

Además, la NASA tiene previsto solicitar propuestas en los próximos meses para módulos de aterrizaje lunar que transporten una demostración de tecnología de energía y aviónica, otro conjunto de cargas científicas y un generador de imágenes ópticas del Polo Sur. La NASA también publicará una convocatoria abierta para demostraciones tecnológicas de la Base Lunar y solicitará propuestas para una constelación de retransmisores de comunicaciones y navegación lunar para mejorar la comunicación entre los elementos de la Base Lunar y la Tierra.

Las adjudicaciones anunciadas el 30 de junio desempeñarán un papel fundamental en el establecimiento de la infraestructura para las operaciones en la superficie lunar. Las empresas son responsables de iniciar y ejecutar los procesos de contratación proporcionar una evaluación de un módulo de aterrizaje lunar previo similar e incorporar las lecciones aprendidas para mejorar la fiabilidad general de la misión.

Cada entrega llevará tres cargas útiles de la NASA a la superficie lunar:

Instrumento Cámara estéreo para el estudio de los penachos en la superficie lunar (SCALPSS, por sus siglas en inglés): un conjunto de cuatro cámaras que utiliza una técnica llamada fotogrametría estéreo para producir una vista tridimensional del impacto del penacho de gases del motor sobre el polvo lunar a medida que el módulo de aterrizaje desciende sobre la superficie de la Luna. Al recopilar datos de una variedad de motores de distintos tamaños, combustibles y lugares de aterrizaje, estas imágenes estéreo de alta resolución ayudarán a crear modelos para predecir la erosión del polvo lunar y las características de los materiales eyectados, lo que desempeñará un papel vital a medida que se entreguen en la Luna naves espaciales y equipamiento más grandes y pesados cerca unos de otros.
Conjunto de retrorreflectores láser (LRA, por sus siglas en inglés): refleja los haces láser transmitidos por orbitadores lunares o naves espaciales en fase de aterrizaje para ayudarles a determinar su posición orbital o a navegar hacia la superficie. Es un pequeño dispositivo del tamaño de una galleta, formado por ocho prismas de cuarzo en forma de esquina de cubo colocados en un marco de aluminio en forma de cúpula. El conjunto es pasivo, no requiere energía ni mantenimiento. Estos conjuntos han volado en anteriores módulos de aterrizaje del programa CLPS y en módulos de aterrizaje lunar internacionales, y se seguirán utilizando para construir una red de marcadores permanentes de ubicación en la Luna para la exploración futura.
Espectrómetro de transferencia lineal de energía (LETS, por sus siglas en inglés): ayuda a comprender mejor el entorno de radiación a partir de distintas trayectorias de tránsito lunar y en diferentes lugares de la superficie lunar. Derivado de equipamiento ya existente, este monitor de radiación utiliza un diminuto y avanzado detector de silicio para medir la energía que transporta la radiación espacial entrante. Proporcionará información sobre la intensidad de la radiación y el tipo de radiación que impacta en la superficie lunar, y brinda la clase de datos detallados sobre radiación que la NASA necesita para diseñar misiones más seguras, proteger a los astronautas y planificar la exploración de larga duración.

La agencia también está estudiando opciones para que estos módulos de aterrizaje entreguen otras cargas útiles a la Luna.

“Al enviar los mismos instrumentos científicos en varios módulos de aterrizaje, comprenderemos mejor los posibles peligros durante el aterrizaje y crearemos una red global de datos ambientales y marcadores de ubicación en la Luna”, dijo Joel Kearns, administrador asociado adjunto para la exploración de la Dirección de Misiones Científicas en la sede central de la NASA. “Es similar a tener estaciones meteorológicas en distintos lugares de la Tierra. Estas tres cargas útiles han demostrado su fiabilidad en vuelo y sus datos son fundamentales para apoyar la exploración segura de la superficie lunar con seres humanos”.

La NASA avanza en el desarrollo de la Base Lunar, una iniciativa a largo plazo de exploración e infraestructura lunar diseñada para permitir una presencia humana sostenida y ampliar la actividad científica y comercial en la superficie de la Luna.

Como parte de una edad de oro de innovación y exploración, la NASA enviará astronautas en misiones cada vez más difíciles para explorar más de la Luna con fines de descubrimiento científico y beneficios económicos, y para continuar sentando las bases para las primeras misiones tripuladas a Marte.

Para obtener más información sobre la Base Lunar, visite el sitio web (en inglés):

https://www.nasa.gov/moonbase
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Rachel Kraft / Molly Wasser / María José Viñas
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Last Updated

Jun 30, 2026

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Thursday, 2 July 2026