NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Captures Lobster Nebula’s Towering Spires and Massive Stars

A striking view of the Lobster Nebula (NGC 6357), located 5,500 light-years from Earth, can be seen in a recent infrared image taken by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Newborn stars in it form angular, mountain-like spires out of glowing orange and blue clouds of gas. Pismis 24 is a young star cluster with three massive core stars that shine brightly at its center. They use powerful UV light to create a hole in the nebula. One of the nearest locations for massive star birth, according to astronomers, is Pismis 24.

A Stellar Nursery in the Lobster Nebula

According to NASA, NGC 6357, a massive molecular hydrogen cloud called the Lobster Nebula, contains Pismis 24. Parts of the gas have been ionised and hollowed out by the ultraviolet light of hot, young stars that light up this stellar nursery.

The inner rim of this cavity is visible in Webb's infrared view as a wall of gas punctuated by tall spires. The highest spire is roughly 5.4 light-years high. Starlight illuminates veils of gas and dust that float around the spires.

A Triple-Giant Star System

The brightest object in Pismis 24 is a star labeled Pismis 24-1. It was once thought to be a single supermassive star, but is actually multiple stars. Pismis 24-1 comprises at least two stars (previously mistaken for one) with 74 and 66 times the Sun's mass. Hubble data reveals a triple: one ~66-solar-mass star and two ~36-solar-mass stars in a tight pair.

All three are luminous; each is expected to explode as a supernova in roughly a million years. One gas pillar points at Pismis 24-1; its core is being sculpted by the stars' radiation, triggering star formation.