James Webb Telescope: Toulouse researchers publish fantastic images of the Orion Nebula
By Thibaut Calatayud
Published on
Incredible shots. Monday, September 12, 2022, an international research team (18 countries), combining scientists from the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Paris-Saclay University and the University of Western Ontario (Canada) but also astronomers from the Paris-PSL Observatory supported by CNES, unveiled the first images of the orion nebulafavored by the James Webb Space Telescope.
Work accomplished in 2016
This team is co-led by Olivier Bernéastrophysicist at the CNRS and responsible for the scientific project on the James Webb space telescope.
“In 2016, our program was selected to be observed on the James Webb Space Telescope. Since then, a very significant amount of time has been spent preparing these observations. Today is really a great moment since, finally, we can see the first images which reward all our efforts”, confides the astrophysicist based in Toulouse.
The Orion Nebula, a nursery of stars
These stunning images show “many spectacular structures, down to scales of about 40 astronomical units (one unit equals the Earth-Sun distance). Among them, a certain number of dense filaments of matter, which could favor the birth of a new generation of stars, as well as stellar systems in formation have been observed”, explains the CNRS.
The Orion Nebula is the “nursery of stars” the richest and closest (1350 light-years from Earth) to our solar system. “It would be an environment similar to that in which our system was born more than 4.5 billion years ago: studying it thus makes it possible to better understand the conditions prevailing at that time”, details the National Center of scientific research.
.
Was this article helpful to you? Note that you can follow Actu Toulouse in the My Actu space. In one click, after registration, you will find all the news of your favorite cities and brands.