Webb Telescope captures shocking images of the “Horsehead” nebula

The James Webb Space Telescope NASA captured the most detailed infrared images yet of the “Horsehead” nebula, one of the most majestic and recognizable objects in the night sky, the US space agency reported Monday.

The images show the top of the “horse’s mane” revealing for the first time the small-scale structures at the edge of the giant cloud of gas and dust.

Located about 1,300 light-years away in the constellation Orion, the iconic silhouette of a horse’s head emerges from what appear to be churning waves of interstellar foam.

Webb, the most powerful space observatory ever built, is capable of detecting infrared light at unprecedented resolutions and thus reveals objects that cannot be seen in optical telescopes.

“An international team of astronomers revealed for the first time the small-scale structures at the illuminated tip of Horsehead,” NASA said in a statement.

As ultraviolet light evaporates the cloud of stellar dust, particles are thrown away by the flow of hot gas, a process that the Webb telescope has now shown in action.

The observations have also given astronomers new data on how dust blocks or emits light, and a better idea of ​​the multidimensional shape of that nebula.

The work is the result of studies led by Karl Misselt of the University of Arizona, and which were published Monday in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The “Horsehead” nebula has fascinated space lovers since its discovery in 1888 by Scottish astronomer Williamina Fleming.

Although it appears dark in optical light, the nebula comes to life when viewed through infrared wavelengths.

Experts estimate that the “Horsehead” nebula will disappear in five million years.