However, NIRSpec showed that the star was only just beginning to emerge from its pillar and still maintained an insulating cloud of dust around itself. Astronomers previously thought this star might be a bit older and already in the process of clearing out a bubble around itself. Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) caught one very young star doing just that. These pillars contain forming protostars, which will eventually emerge from their dusty cocoons and take their turn shaping the nebula. Only the densest surrounding areas of the nebula resist erosion by these stars’ powerful stellar winds, forming pillars that appear to point back toward the cluster. The nebula’s cavity centered in the NIRCam image has been hollowed out by blistering radiation from a cluster of massive young stars, which sparkle pale blue in the image. Viewed with Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), the region resembles a burrowing tarantula’s home, lined with its silk. Astronomers focused three of Webb’s high-resolution infrared instruments on the Tarantula. It is home to the hottest, most massive stars are known. In addition to young stars, Webb reveals distant background galaxies, as well as the detailed structure and composition of the nebula’s gas and dust.Īt only 161,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy, the Tarantula Nebula is the largest and brightest star-forming region in the Local Group, the galaxies nearest our Milky Way. Caption by Andrea Meado, Jacobs, JETS Contract at NASA-JSC.Nicknamed the Tarantula Nebula for the appearance of its dusty filaments in previous telescope images, the nebula has long been a favorite for astronomers studying star formation. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 64 crew. The area is known regionally as the Texas Hill Country.Īstronaut photograph ISS064-E-15994 was acquired on December 25, 2020, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a 24 millimeter lens and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The region marks changes in topography, geology, ecology, and climate from flat and humid coastal wetlands to rocky hills with woodlands (dark green in the image). West and northwest of Houston, the cities of San Antonio and Austin border a central Texas geographic region called the Edwards Plateau. Although groundwater exists in aquifers beneath Houston, limits on groundwater extraction have been put in place to reduce land subsidence in the region. The greater Houston area depends on nearby reservoirs such as Lake Livingston for its water supply. Several artificial reservoirs have been constructed to impound rivers flowing toward the coast. Channels between the barrier islands allow ships to bring crude petroleum products to ports and refineries along the bays-especially Corpus Christi, Houston, and Beaumont.Įast of Houston, pine forests and swamps dominate the coastal landscape. The Gulf Coast region is a center for offshore oil and gas drilling and associated infrastructure. Lining the Texas coast are long, narrow barrier islands that create protective bays between the Gulf of Mexico and the mainland. They get part of their education from the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, which works with them to achieve the diverse science objectives of astronaut photography of Earth. The photo centers on Houston, home to NASA Johnson Space Center, where astronauts live and train. The field of view is about the same as what astronauts see with their unaided eyes from station windows. An astronaut onboard the International Space Station (ISS) took this photo of the Texas Gulf Coast.
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