Interstellar Jets

An astronomical image focused on a conical structure in red that crosses diagonally from lower right toward the upper left. Near the tip of the structure is bright blue light surrounded by pink spiral arms. This is a distant spiral galaxy that only appears aligned with the interstellar jet.

This JWST image shows a couple of Herbig-Hero objects, seen in infrared. These bright objects form when jets of fast-moving energetic particles are expelled from the poles of a newborn star. Those particles hit pockets of gas and dust, forming glowing, hot shock waves like those seen here in red. The star that birthed the object is out of view to the lower-right. The bright blue light surrounded by red spirals that sits near the tip of the shock waves is actually a distant spiral galaxy that happens to be aligned with our viewpoint. (Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/JWST; via APOD)

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