James Webb spots stars brewing in Halloween-like cosmic cauldron

By Dean Murray

Space scientists say they have spotted stars brewing in a Halloween-like cosmic cauldron.

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA James Webb Space Telescope have highlighted a turbulent star-forming region named N159, located 161,000 light-years away.

Choosing the observation as their Picture of the Month, they commented: “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. We visit a turbulent cauldron of star formation to see what is brewing inside dense clumps of gas.”

The image of N159 spans about 230 light-years across in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), one of the satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way.

N159 is what astronomers call an H II region: an area of space filled with ionized hydrogen gas.

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NASA said: “The colors of this image are interesting because they represent its chemistry. Dark red filaments across the centre of the image are made of cool molecular hydrogen. These filaments are the densest part of the nebula and currently shield new stars from harsh radiation and stellar winds.”

ESA said: “In stellar nurseries such as this one, giant molecular clouds of cold hydrogen gas collapse under gravity, forming new stars. Many of these stars are extremely massive and hot, and their powerful ultraviolet radiation ionizes the gas around them.”

Social media users on X were impressed.

Nova Bound posted: “Stars forming 161,000 light-years away and Webb still makes it look close enough to touch. N159 is going straight onto our wallpaper list.”

QX commented: “Toil and trouble just in time for Halloween. Wild that this light left N159 about 161,000 years ago.”