James Webb's 1st Anniversary Image - the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex

12 months ago Webb delivered its first pictures to an expectant world , this week is the Anniversary of that great event so to celebrate Webb shows us the delights of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex , it's a bit of a stunner and relatively close at just 400 light years it's also one of the closest Star forming regions to our Galaxy .... there be Aliens.

Red dual opposing jets coming from young stars fill the darker top half of the image, while a glowing pale-yellow, cave-like structure is bottom centre, tilted toward two o’clock, with a bright star at its centre. The dust of the cave structure becomes wispy toward eight o’clock. Above the arched top of the dust cave three groupings of stars with diffraction spikes are arranged. A dark cloud sits at the top of the arch of the glowing dust cave, with one streamer curling down the right-hand side. The dark shadow of the cloud appears pinched in the centre, with light emerging in a triangle shape above and below the pinch, revealing the presence of a star inside the dark cloud. The image’s largest jets of red material emanate from within this dark cloud, thick and displaying structure like the rough face of a cliff, glowing brighter at the edges. At the top centre of the image, a star displays another, larger pinched dark shadow, this time vertically. To the left of this star is a more wispy, indistinct region.]

Happy Anniversary Jim , keep 'em coming.


Nasa video takes a closer look at the cloud's features

Thats amazing, aint it?
Makes Hubble look like one of those old disposable jobs you used to get from the garage.

a reply to: gortex

Looks like a jellyfish eating a magic mushroom. 🍄

I’m curious how large that is.

a reply to: KKLOCO

I’m curious how large that is.

I think it's big but not that big , ESA describe it as "a small star-forming region" , of course "small" is relative.

esawebb.org...

The more images like this I see , The more I'm convinced we are living in the Mind of the ALL.

Fantastic image! Make sure you check out the full-sized version, as there is a lot to explore! esawebb.org...