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Silicate Crystallization and Movement Near Protostar EC 53 (Illustration)

Illustration shows a small yellow sphere at center surrounded from upper left to lower right by a semi-circle that has the rough shape of half a pancake with rounded edges. The pancake has a hole in the middle and doesn’t touch the star. The semi-circle is bright yellow closest to the star, orange toward the center, and redder at its round edges. Several large teal arrows are within the semi-circle. Two arrows start in the area nearest the star at the left and right edges of the yellow disk. Each arrow goes immediately up and points outward to the left or right. Two additional large teal arrows appear at far left and far right, following a swooping pattern begun by the first arrows, with each pointing down to the farthest edges of the pancake. Small teal dots begin where the arrows begin, following the arrows, but also are embedded within the pancake forming a straight edge from the inner to the outer regions. A faint red haze extends from the star in the lower left diagonal and the background is black.

This illustration represents half the disk of gas and dust surrounding the protostar EC 53. The actively forming star is represented by the central yellow sphere. Stellar outbursts periodically heat the inner disk, forming a variety of crystalline silicates (represented by teal dots) where it’s hotter, closer to the protostar.

Once forged, the crystalline silicates shoot up and out (following the teal arrows), launched by winds from the protostar’s disk. These silicates often end up at the edges of the system, where comets and other icy rocky bodies may eventually form.

  • Release Date
    January 21, 2026
  • Science Release
    NASA Webb Finds Young Sun-Like Star Forging, Spewing Common Crystals
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Elizabeth Wheatley (STScI)

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Related Images & Videos

A young star-forming region is filled with wispy orange, red, and blue layers of gas and dust. At center-left, a larger star is circled. It has prominent diffraction spikes and an arc of white at right.

Protostar EC 53 in the Serpens Nebula (NIRCam Image)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s 2024 NIRCam image shows protostar EC 53 circled. Researchers using new data from Webb’s MIRI proved that crystalline silicates form in the hottest part of the disk of gas and dust surrounding the star — and may be shot to the system’s edges.

Image titled u201cJames Webb Space Telescope; Protostar EC 53 in the Serpens Nebula,u201d with compass arrows and color key.

Protostar EC 53 in the Serpens Nebula (NIRCam Compass Image)

This image of protostar EC 53 in the Serpens Nebula, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.

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Details

Last Updated
Jan 21, 2026
Location
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

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