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

Suggested Searches

 

1 min read

Webb Telescope Reveals the Protostar L1527 IRS

Explore the formation of a star as can only be seen by the James Webb Space Telescope. This 3D visualization exposes the structures around the protostar L1527 IRS.

Even with the best optical telescopes, the nebula L1527 appears as a dark, featureless cloud. But it contains a secret within. L1527 IRS is a star in the process of formation that can be detected using the infrared eyes of Webb.

Shrouded in dust, the protostar accretes new material from a disk, and expels some of it into hourglass-shaped lobes. Examine the features revealed in a 3D model based on the Webb image.

  • Release Date
    March 31, 2025
  • Credit
    Video: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI), Leah Hustak (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Frank Summers (STScI), Gregory Bacon (STScI)

Downloads

  • Video: 1080 × 1920, 30 FPS
    mp4 (10.31 MB)
  • Audio Description
    mp4 (19.91 MB)
  • Audio Description
    mp3 (375.71 KB)
  • Audio Description
    doc (20.04 KB)
  • Audio Description: Text Description
    docx (18.47 KB)
  • Captions
    srt (1.1 KB)
  • Captions
    vtt (1.41 KB)
  • Image: Poster Image, 1920 × 1080
    png (744.23 KB)
  • Transcript
    doc (19.91 KB)
  • Transcript
    txt (593 B)

Share

Details

Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
Contact
Media

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

Video Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI), Leah Hustak (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Frank Summers (STScI), Gregory Bacon (STScI)

Related Terms

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

James Webb Space Telescope

Space Telescope

Science Overview

Webb Observatory

Webb Image Galleries