James Webb Space Telescope Spots Rare Protostar Blasting Twin Jets Across Milky Way

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured an image of a baby star in the glowing nebula Sharpless 2-284 on the outskirts of the Milky Way, unleashing twin jets roughly eight light-years long. The massive protostar, around ten times the mass of the Sun, lies about 15,000 light-years from Earth. Its narrow streams of glowing gas blast through space at hundreds of thousands of miles per hour, acting like a cosmic blowtorch. These jets carve out the surrounding nebula as they plow into interstellar gas.

Massive Star Fires Twin Jets

According to Webb's observation, the infrared camera clearly captures the twin jets as long, bright ribbons stretching from opposite poles of the young star. In the image they slam into the surrounding gas, carving out the glowing Sh2-284 nebula. NASA scientists liken the scene to “a double-bladed dueling lightsaber”. Lead researcher Yu Cheng calls the outflow “spectacular” and notes jets of this size are extremely rare.

Each beam of gas races at hundreds of thousands of miles per hour, powered by material falling onto the protostar. The jets are surprisingly straight and nearly 180° apart, implying the star's disk remained steady rather than chaotic.

Scientific significance

The origin of the largest stars in the galaxy has long been a topic of discussion among astronomers. According to Webb's model of symmetric jets, massive stars form through a steady disk of gas rather than a chaotic process. At the Milky Way's outer edge, a protostar ten times the mass of the Sun is currently accumulating material to replicate early-universe conditions. A unique perspective on star formation can be gained by observing this primitive star.