New images taken by NASA’s Webb Space Telescope show the sharpest images yet of a portion of a horse-shaped nebula which was discovered more than a century ago.
A nebula is a cloud of gas and dust in outer space visible in the night sky either as a distinct bright patch or dark silhouette against other luminous matter — and this one has an astonishing likeness to a horse rearing its head.
The so-called Horsehead Nebula — in the constellation Orion — is 1,300 light years or nearly 6 trillion miles away from earth and shows the “mane” of the stunning formation in greater detail illuminated by a nearby hot star.
Webb, the most powerful space observatory ever built, is able to detect infrared light at unprecedented resolutions, revealing objects that cannot be seen using the visible spectrum in optical telescopes.
“As ultraviolet light evaporates the dust cloud, particles are swept away by the outflow of heated gas,” NASA revealed in a statement alongside the images which show the process in pristine detail.
The shots are hoped to help refine astronomers’ understanding of the nebula, which has become a favorite target for space observatories including the Hubble Space Telescope.
The Horsehead Nebula is the ideal target for astronomers to study the physical structures of such formations known as photodissociation regions (PDRs).
“[The images also reveal] the molecular evolution of the gas and dust within their respective environments, and the transition regions between them,” NASA said in a statement.
“It is considered one of the best regions in the sky to study how radiation interacts with interstellar matter.”
The new images have also allowed astronomers to investigate how dust blocks and emits light as well as allowing them to understand the multidimensional shape of the nebula.
Last year, the nebula was captured by Euclid’s as part of a group of five stunning new space images.
The one-of-a-kind photos were released by the European Space Agency, which launched the groundbreaking tech into the final frontier from Florida’s Cape Canaveral last July.
Euclid’s task is to observe and then eventually help the consortium create a groundbreaking 3D map that would “uncover some of [the universe’s] hidden secrets,” according to the organization.