Glowing From Within

Day 15 of the 2024 Space Telescope Advent Calendar: glowing from within. This mosaic of images from the James Webb Space Telescope showcases the nearby star-forming cluster, NGC 1333, about 960 light-years away, in the Perseus molecular cloud. Across the image we see large patches of orange, which represent gas glowing in the infrared. These so-called Herbig-Haro objects form when ionized material ejected from young stars collides with the surrounding cloud—hallmarks of a very active site of star formation. Many of the young stars in this image are surrounded by discs of gas and dust, which may eventually produce planetary systems.

See the full advent calendar here, where a new image will be revealed each day until December 25.