Infrared Universe: Baby Star Jet

As stars begin draw in material from the surrounding disk of gas, they form jets of material that blast through their surrounding clouds. While such jets may have some appearance in visible light, an infrared view can reveal both sides of the jet along with the source star deep within the cloud, as seen in this image of the protostar BHR71.

Optical: One side of the protostellar jet bursts out of the dust cloud.
Credit: VLT, J. Alves (ESO), E. Tolstoy (Groningen), R. Fosbury (ST-ECF) and R. Hook (ST-ECF)

Infrared: The inner workings of the star’s jet.
Credit: NASA JPL-Caltech, T. Bourke (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) and c2d Legacy Team

About the Infrared Universe Collection

The human eye can only see visible light, but objects give off a variety of wavelengths of light. To see an object as it truly exists, we would ideally look at its appearance through the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Telescopes show us objects as they appear emitting different energies of light, with each wavelength conveying unique information about the object. The Webb Space Telescope will study infrared light from celestial objects with much greater clarity and sensitivity than ever before. Explore the Infrared Universe. Adapted from Cool Cosmos by IPAC, with additional contributions from Bruno Merin and Miguel Merin (Pludo).