NASA shares incredible close-up of Sun-like star formation for James Webb anniversary

“To celebrate the completion of a successful first year, NASA has released Webb’s image of a small star-forming region in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex,” the space agency wrote in a blog post.

Rho Ophiuchi, the nearest Sun-like star-forming region to Earth, is located 390 light-years away, meaning Webb was able to capture a highly detailed close-up. NASA pointed out that the proximity, as well as the fact there are no stars between Rho Ophiuchi and Webb, allowed for such a detailed observation.

NASA explained in its post that the new image contains roughly 50 young stars, all of which have a similar mass to the Sun. The darkest areas in the dust clouds are the densest and this is where cosmic dust cocoons are in the process of forming protostars.

The red streaks in the image, meanwhile, are enormous bipolar jets of molecular hydrogen. These occur when a newly-formed star shoots out of its cosmic cocoon. The brightest star in the center of the lower half of the image, called S1, is the only star in the observation that is significantly larger than the Sun.

"Webb's image of Rho Ophiuchi allows us to witness a very brief period in the stellar lifecycle with new clarity," said Klaus Pontoppidan, a Webb project scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. "Our own Sun experienced a phase like this, long ago, and now we have the technology to see the beginning of another star's story."

James Webb's first year altered our perception of the cosmos

NASA's very first scientific James Webb image, revealed on July 11 last year, showed a region of the sky known as SMACS 0723. At the time of its unveiling, NASA described it as the "deepest, sharpest infrared view of the universe to date."

It showed a stunning collection of galaxies — some of them roughly 13 billion years old — within a patch of sky about the size of a grain of sand held at arm's length.

Since then, Webb has collected a wealth of highly-valuable scientific data that has helped to alter our understanding of the cosmos. Notably, it has discovered early galaxies that were much more evolved than previously thought possible for such an early period of the universe, causing astrophysicists to reassess their understanding of early cosmic evolution.

"In just one year, the James Webb Space Telescope has transformed humanity's view of the cosmos, peering into dust clouds and seeing light from faraway corners of the universe for the very first time," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson explained in the space agency's blog post.

"Every new image is a new discovery, empowering scientists around the globe to ask and answer questions they once could never dream of," Nelson continued. "Thousands of engineers, scientists, and leaders poured their life’s passion into this mission, and their efforts will continue to improve our understanding of the origins of the universe – and our place in it."

Over the next decade or so, Webb will continue to provide observations that challenge our understanding of the universe, shedding new light on distant, alien worlds, as well as potentially helping scientists to better understand mysterious cosmic phenomena like supermassive black holes, dark energy, and dark matter.

This was a live article and it was updated as new information emerged.