Due to the lapse in federal government funding, NASA is not updating this website.

Suggested Searches

 

1 min read

Herbig-Haro 49/50 (NIRCam and MIRI Image)

Angled from the upper left corner to the lower right corner is a cone-shaped orange-red cloud known as Herbig-Haro 49/50. This feature takes up about three-fourths of the length of this angle. The upper left end of this feature has a translucent, rounded end. The conical feature widens slightly from the rounded end at the upper right down to the lower right. Along the cone there are additional rounded edges, like edges of a wave, and intricate foamy-like details, as well as a clearer view of the black background of space. In the upper left, overlapping with the rounded end of Herbig-Haro 49/50, is a background spiral galaxy with a concentrated blue center that fades outward to blend with red spiral arms. The background of space is speckled with some white stars and smaller, more numerous, fainter white galaxies throughout.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observed Herbig-Haro 49/50, an outflow from a nearby still-forming star, in high-resolution near- and mid-infrared light. The young star is off to the lower right corner of the Webb image.Intricate features of the outflow, represented in reddish-orange color, provide detailed clues about how young stars form and how their jet activity affects the environment around them. A chance alignment in this direction of the sky provides a beautiful juxtaposition of this nearby Herbig-Haro object (located within our Milky Way) with a face-on spiral galaxy in the distant background. 

Protostars are young stars in the process of formation that generally launch narrow jets of material. These jets move through the surrounding environment, in some cases extending to large distances away from the protostar.  

Like the water wake generated by a speeding boat, the arcs in this image are created by the fast-moving jet slamming into surrounding dust and gas. This ambient material is compressed and heats up, then cools by emitting light at visible and infrared wavelengths.  In particular, the infrared light captured here by Webb highlights molecular hydrogen and carbon monoxide.

The galaxy that appears by happenstance at the tip of Herbig-Haro 49/50 is a much more distant spiral galaxy. It has a prominent central bulge represented in blue that shows the location of older stars. It also displays hints of “side lobes,” suggesting that this could be a barred-spiral galaxy. Reddish clumps within the spiral arms show the locations of warm dust and groups of forming stars.

There are many more galaxies at further distances in the surrounding background, including ones that shine through the diffuse infrared glow of the nearby Herbig-Haro object.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    11:05:56.2
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -77:33:31.7
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Chamaeleon
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    625 light-years
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Image is 2.13 arcmin across (about 0.3 light-years)

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    This image was created with Webb data from proposal: 6558 (M. Garcia Marin). Image processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI).

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    NIRCam, MIRI
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    06 August 2024
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    NIRCam: F200W, F335M, F444W, F470N; MIRI: F770W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Herbig-Haro 49/50, HH 49/50
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Stellar Jets
  • Release Date
    March 24, 2025
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Webb Telescope Unmasks True Nature of the Cosmic Tornado
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Downloads

  • Full Res (For Display), 4152 × 5044
    png (23.03 MB)
  • Full Res (For Print), 4152 × 5044
    tif (23.23 MB)
  • 1646 × 2000
    jpg (780.57 KB)
Angled from the upper left corner to the lower right corner is a cone-shaped orange-red cloud known as Herbig-Haro 49/50. This feature takes up about three-fourths of the length of this angle. The upper left end of this feature has a translucent, rounded end. The conical feature widens slightly from the rounded end at the upper right down to the lower right. Along the cone there are additional rounded edges, like edges of a wave, and intricate foamy-like details, as well as a clearer view of the black background of space. In the upper left, overlapping with the rounded end of Herbig-Haro 49/50, is a background spiral galaxy with a concentrated blue center that fades outward to blend with red spiral arms. The background of space is speckled with some white stars and smaller, more numerous, fainter white galaxies throughout.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the NIRCam and MIRI instruments. Several filters were used to sample specific wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are:   Red: F770W, Orange: F470N, Green: F444W, Cyan: F335M, Blue: F200W

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

Related Images & Videos

A side-by-side comparison of a Spitzer infrared image of Herbig-Haro 49/50 (HH 49/50) (left) versus a Webb infrared image (right) of the same object. In Spitzer’s view of the cone-shaped nebula with tornado-like features shows rainbow colors in shades of blue at tip, changing into green hues then orange hues down the cone towards the lower right. The background is punctuated with white small galaxies. A round blur with a blue core and reddish halo appears at the tip of the cone. The Webb view of HH 49/50 is dominated with shades of orange-red colors, rich in details throughout the cone-shaped nebula. The round blur at the tip of the nebula is resolved into spiral galaxy. The galaxy has a concentrated blue center that fades outwards to blend in with red spiral arms. The black background speckled with some white stars and smaller, fainter, and more detailed white galaxies.

Herbig-Haro 49/50 (Spitzer and Webb Images)

This side-by-side comparison shows a Spitzer Space Telescope image of HH 49/50 (left) versus a Webb image of the same object (right) using the NIRCam (Near-infrared Camera) instrument and MIRI (Mid-infrared Instrument). The Webb image shows intricate details of the heated gas...

Image titled “James Webb Space Telescope; Stellar Jets; Herbig-Haro 49-50,” with compass arrows and color key. In the center is a cone-shaped orange-red cloud known as Herbig-Haro 49/50. At the end of the cone there is background spiral-shaped galaxy with a concentrated blue center that fades outwards to blend in with red spiral arms. At the bottom left is a scale bar labeled 0.05 light-years. The length of the scale bar is about one sixth of the total image. At the bottom right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 2 o’clock. The north arrow points in the 5 o’clock direction. Below the image is a color key showing which NIRCam and MIRI filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter. From left to right: F200W is blue, F335M is cyan, F444W is green, F470N is orange, and F770W is red.

Herbig-Haro 49/50 (NIRCam and MIRI Compass Image)

This image of Herbig-Haro 49/50, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference. The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on...

Angled from the upper left corner to the lower right corner is a cone-shaped orange-red cloud known as Herbig-Haro 49/50. This feature takes up about three-fourths of the length of this angle. The upper left end of this feature has a translucent, rounded end. The conical feature widens slightly from the rounded end at the upper right down to the lower right. Along the cone there are additional rounded edges, like edges of a wave, and intricate foamy-like details, as well as a clearer view of the black background of space. In the upper left, overlapping with the rounded end of Herbig-Haro 49/50, is a background spiral galaxy with a concentrated blue center that fades outward to blend with red spiral arms. The background of space is speckled with some white stars and smaller, more numerous, fainter white galaxies throughout.

Herbig-Haro 49/50 Stellar Jets

This visualization examines the three-dimensional structure of Herbig-Haro 49/50 (HH 49/50) as seen in near- and mid-infrared light by the James Webb Space Telescope. HH 49/50 is an outflow produced by the jet of a nearby still-forming star in the Chamaeleon I Cloud complex, one...

Share

Details

Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
Contact
Media

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

Image Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Related Terms

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

James Webb Space Telescope

Space Telescope

Science Overview

Webb Observatory

Webb Image Galleries