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NASA Webb Finds Young Sun-Like Star Forging, Spewing Common Crystals

✇NASA Breaking News
21 January 2026 at 11:00
 
5 Min Read

NASA Webb Finds Young Sun-Like Star Forging, Spewing Common Crystals

A rectangular image of the Serpens Nebula with black vertical rectangles at the bottom left and top right to indicate missing data. A young star-forming region is filled with wispy orange, red, and blue layers of gas and dust. The upper left corner of the image is filled with mostly orange dust, and within that orange dust, there are several small red plumes of gas that extend from the top left to the bottom right at the same angle. At center-left is a larger star that is circled. This star has Webb’s signature diffraction spikes, but along the right also has an arc of white, with the circular edge starting at the center of the star. Mostly blue gas fills the center. There is a particularly bright central star. The gas to the right is a darker orange. Small points of light are sprinkled across the field. The brightest sources have extensive eight-pointed diffraction spikes.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s 2024 NIRCam image shows protostar EC 53 circled. Researchers using new data from Webb’s MIRI proved that crystalline silicates form in the hottest part of the disk of gas and dust surrounding the star — and may be shot to the system’s edges.
Credits:
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (NASA-JPL), Joel Green (STScI); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Astronomers have long sought evidence to explain why comets at the outskirts of our own solar system contain crystalline silicates, since crystals require intense heat to form and these “dirty snowballs” spend most of their time in the ultracold Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. Now, looking outside our solar system, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has returned the first conclusive evidence that links how those conditions are possible. The telescope clearly showed for the first time that the hot, inner part of the disk of gas and dust surrounding a very young, actively forming star is where crystalline silicates are forged. Webb also revealed a strong outflow that is capable of carrying the crystals to the outer edges of this disk. Compared to our own fully formed, mostly dust-cleared solar system, the crystals would be forming approximately between the Sun and Earth.

Webb’s sensitive mid-infrared observations of the protostar, cataloged EC 53, also show that the powerful winds from the star’s disk are likely catapulting these crystals into distant locales, like the incredibly cold edge of its protoplanetary disk where comets may eventually form.

“EC 53’s layered outflows may lift up these newly formed crystalline silicates and transfer them outward, like they’re on a cosmic highway,” said Jeong-Eun Lee, the lead author of a new paper in Nature and a professor at Seoul National University in South Korea. “Webb not only showed us exactly which types of silicates are in the dust near the star, but also where they are both before and during a burst.”

Image: Protostar EC 53 in the Serpens Nebula (NIRCam Image)

A rectangular image of the Serpens Nebula with black vertical rectangles at the bottom left and top right to indicate missing data. A young star-forming region is filled with wispy orange, red, and blue layers of gas and dust. The upper left corner of the image is filled with mostly orange dust, and within that orange dust, there are several small red plumes of gas that extend from the top left to the bottom right at the same angle. At center-left is a larger star that is circled. This star has Webbu2019s signature diffraction spikes, but along the right also has an arc of white, with the circular edge starting at the center of the star. Mostly blue gas fills the center. There is a particularly bright central star. The gas to the right is a darker orange. Small points of light are sprinkled across the field. The brightest sources have extensive eight-pointed diffraction spikes.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s 2024 NIRCam image shows protostar EC 53 circled. Researchers using new data from Webb’s MIRI proved that crystalline silicates form in the hottest part of the disk of gas and dust surrounding the star — and may be shot to the system’s edges.
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (NASA-JPL), Joel Green (STScI); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

The team used Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) to collect two sets of highly detailed spectra to identify specific elements and molecules, and determine their structures. Next, they precisely mapped where everything is, both when EC 53 is “quiet” (but still gradually “nibbling” at its disk) and when it’s more active (what’s known as an outburst phase).

This star, which has been studied by this team and others for decades, is highly predictable. (Other young stars have erratic outbursts, or their outbursts last for hundreds of years.) About every 18 months, EC 53 begins a 100-day, bombastic burst phase, kicking up the pace and absolutely devouring nearby gas and dust, while ejecting some of its intake as powerful jets and outflows. These expulsions may fling some of the newly formed crystals into the outskirts of the star’s protoplanetary disk. 

“Even as a scientist, it is amazing to me that we can find specific silicates in space, including forsterite and enstatite near EC 53,” said Doug Johnstone, a co-author and a principal research officer at the National Research Council of Canada. “These are common minerals on Earth. The main ingredient of our planet is silicate.” For decades, research has also identified crystalline silicates not only on comets in our solar system, but also in distant protoplanetary disks around other, slightly older stars — but couldn’t pinpoint how they got there. With Webb’s new data, researchers now better understand how these conditions might be possible.

“It’s incredibly impressive that Webb can not only show us so much, but also where everything is,” said Joel Green, a co-author and an instrument scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. “Our research team mapped how the crystals move throughout the system. We’ve effectively shown how the star creates and distributes these superfine particles, which are each significantly smaller than a grain of sand.”

Webb’s MIRI data also clearly shows the star’s narrow, high-velocity jets of hot gas near its poles, and the slightly cooler and slower outflows that stem from the innermost and hottest area of the disk that feeds the star. The image above, which was taken by another Webb instrument, NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), shows one set of winds and scattered light from EC 53’s disk as a white semi-circle angled toward the right. Its winds also flow in the opposite direction, roughly behind the star, but in near-infrared light, this region appears dark. Its jets are too tiny to pick out.

Image: Silicate Crystallization and Movement Near Protostar EC 53 (Illustration)

Illustration shows a small yellow sphere at center surrounded from upper left to lower right by a semi-circle that has the rough shape of half a pancake with rounded edges. The pancake has a hole in the middle and doesn’t touch the star. The semi-circle is bright yellow closest to the star, orange toward the center, and redder at its round edges. Several large teal arrows are within the semi-circle. Two arrows start in the area nearest the star at the left and right edges of the yellow disk. Each arrow goes immediately up and points outward to the left or right. Two additional large teal arrows appear at far left and far right, following a swooping pattern begun by the first arrows, with each pointing down to the farthest edges of the pancake. Small teal dots begin where the arrows begin, following the arrows, but also are embedded within the pancake forming a straight edge from the inner to the outer regions. A faint red haze extends from the star in the lower left diagonal and the background is black.
This illustration represents half the disk of gas and dust surrounding the protostar EC 53. Stellar outbursts periodically form crystalline silicates, which are launched up and out to the edges of the system, where comets and other icy rocky bodies may eventually form.
Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Elizabeth Wheatley (STScI)

Look ahead

EC 53 is still “wrapped” in dust and may be for another 100,000 years. Over millions of years, while a young star’s disk is heavily populated with teeny grains of dust and pebbles, an untold number of collisions will occur that may slowly build up a range of larger rocks, eventually leading to the formation of terrestrial and gas giant planets. As the disk settles, both the star itself and any rocky planets will finish forming, the dust will largely clear (no longer obscuring the view), and a Sun-like star will remain at the center of a cleared planetary system, with crystalline silicates “littered” throughout.

EC 53 is part of the Serpens Nebula, which lies 1,300 light-years from Earth and is brimming with actively forming stars.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

To learn more about Webb, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/webb

Downloads & Related Information

The following sections contain links to download this article’s images and videos in all available resolutions followed by related information links, media contacts, and if available, research paper and Spanish translation links.

Related Images & Videos

A young star-forming region is filled with wispy orange, red, and blue layers of gas and dust. At center-left, a larger star is circled. It has prominent diffraction spikes and an arc of white at right.

Protostar EC 53 in the Serpens Nebula (NIRCam Image)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s 2024 NIRCam image shows protostar EC 53 circled. Researchers using new data from Webb’s MIRI proved that crystalline silicates form in the hottest part of the disk of gas and dust surrounding the star — and may be shot to the system’s edges.

Illustration shows a large, angled semi-circle pancake around a small yellow orb representing a star. Tiny teal dots start near the orb, flowing up, out, and down toward the edges of the pancake, following several arrows.

Silicate Crystallization and Movement Near Protostar EC 53 (Illustration)

This illustration represents half the disk of gas and dust surrounding the protostar EC 53. Stellar outbursts periodically form crystalline silicates, which are launched up and out to the edges of the system, where comets and other icy rocky bodies may eventually form.

Image titled u201cJames Webb Space Telescope; Protostar EC 53 in the Serpens Nebula,u201d with compass arrows and color key.

Protostar EC 53 in the Serpens Nebula (NIRCam Compass Image)

This image of protostar EC 53 in the Serpens Nebula, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.

Related Links

Read more: Webb’s Star Formation Discoveries

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Read more: First-of-Its-Kind Detection Made in Striking New Webb Image

Read more: Infographic: Recipe for planet formation

Explore more: Star formation in the Eagle Nebula

Video: Exploring Star and Planet Formation

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Webb Science Themes

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Last Updated
Jan 22, 2026
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Claire Blome
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland

Christine Pulliam
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland

Intricacies of Helix Nebula Revealed With NASA’s Webb

✇NASA Breaking News
20 January 2026 at 10:00
 
4 Min Read

Intricacies of Helix Nebula Revealed With NASA’s Webb

A closeup of a small section of the Helix Nebula, an expanding shell of gas and dust. Thousands of orange and gold comet-like pillars stream upward from the bottom, like thin liquid blown up a sheet of glass. These pillars are around the circumference of the arced shell, which forms a partial orange semi-circle at the bottom. The pillars are more numerous and denser at the bottom, and darker red. They fade to orange and then yellow in the arc. In the top two-thirds, they are thinner and more golden, and it’s easier to see the black background of space. Several bright blue stars, some with diffraction spikes, are scattered throughout. A few larger stars are on the right side.
This new image of a portion of the Helix Nebula from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope highlights comet-like knots, fierce stellar winds, and layers of gas shed off by a dying star interacting with its surrounding environment.
Credits:
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has zoomed into the Helix Nebula to give an up-close view of the possible eventual fate of our own Sun and planetary system. In Webb’s high-resolution look, the structure of the gas being shed off by a dying star comes into full focus. The image reveals how stars recycle their material back into the cosmos, seeding future generations of stars and planets, as NASA explores the secrets of the universe and our place in it.

Image: Helix Nebula (NIRCam)

A closeup of a small section of the Helix Nebula, an expanding shell of gas and dust. Thousands of orange and gold comet-like pillars stream upward from the bottom, like thin liquid blown up a sheet of glass. These pillars are around the circumference of the arced shell, which forms a partial orange semi-circle at the bottom. The pillars are more numerous and denser at the bottom, and darker red. They fade to orange and then yellow in the arc. In the top two-thirds, they are thinner and more golden, and itu2019s easier to see the black background of space. Several bright blue stars, some with diffraction spikes, are scattered throughout. A few larger stars are on the right side.
This new image of a portion of the Helix Nebula from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope highlights comet-like knots, fierce stellar winds, and layers of gas shed off by a dying star interacting with its surrounding environment.
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

In the image from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), pillars that look like comets with extended tails trace the circumference of the inner region of an expanding shell of gas. Here, blistering winds of fast-moving hot gas from the dying star are crashing into slower moving colder shells of dust and gas that were shed earlier in its life, sculpting the nebula’s remarkable structure.

The iconic Helix Nebula has been imaged by many ground- and space-based observatories over the nearly two centuries since it was discovered. Webb’s near-infrared view of the target brings these knots to the forefront compared to the ethereal image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, while its increased resolution sharpens focus from NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope’s snapshot. Additionally, the new near-infrared look shows the stark transition between the hottest gas to the coolest gas as the shell expands out from the central white dwarf.

Image: Helix Nebula Context (VISTA and Webb)

Two panels showing different views of a planetary nebula. The left panel, labeled VISTA, shows colorful light from a glowing cloud shaped like an American football at 45-degree angle. It looks resembles an eye. The outer edges of the nebula are red and clumpy, and traveling in towards the center, they become yellow and golden. The center of the nebula is black and speckled with tiny stars. At three o’clock along the shell of gas, there is a rectangular box around part of the shell. Lines extend from the box to the right, where the image shows thousands of orange and gold comet-like pillars stream leftward from the right, like thin liquid blown up a sheet of glass. These pillars are around the circumference of the arced shell, which forms a partial orange semi-circle at the right. The pillars are more numerous and denser at the right, and darker red.
This image of the Helix Nebula from the ground-based Visible and Infrared Telescope for Astronomy (left) shows the full view of the planetary nebula, with a box highlighting Webb’s field of view (right).
Image: ESO, VISTA, NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Emerson (ESO); Acknowledgment: CASU

A blazing white dwarf, the leftover core of the dying star, lies right at the heart of the nebula, out of the frame of the Webb image. Its intense radiation lights up the surrounding gas, creating a rainbow of features: hot ionized gas closest to the white dwarf, cooler molecular hydrogen farther out, and protective pockets where more complex molecules can begin to form within dust clouds. This interaction is vital, as it’s the raw material from which new planets may one day form in other star systems.

In Webb’s image of the Helix Nebula, color represents the temperature and chemistry. A touch of a blue hue marks the hottest gas in this field, energized by intense ultraviolet light from the white dwarf. Farther out, the gas cools into the yellow regions where hydrogen atoms join into molecules. At the outer edges, the reddish tones trace the coolest material, where gas begins to thin and dust can take shape. Together, the colors show the star’s final breath transforming into the raw ingredients for new worlds, adding to the wealth of knowledge gained from Webb about the origin of planets. 

Spitzer’s studies of the Helix Nebula hinted at the formation of more complex molecules, but Webb’s resolution shows how they form in shielded zones of the scene. In the Webb image, look for dark pockets of space amid the glowing orange and red. 

Video: Observatory Comparison (Hubble/Spitzer/Webb)

This video compares images of the Helix Nebula from three NASA observatories: Hubble’s image in visible light, Spitzer’s infrared view, and Webb’s high-resolution near-infrared look.
Video: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Alyssa Pagan (STScI); Acknowledgment: NASA/JPL-Caltech, ESO, VISTA, CASU, Joseph Hora (CfA), J. Emerson (ESO)

The Helix Nebula is located 650 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Aquarius. It remains a favorite among stargazers and professional astronomers alike due to its relative proximity to Earth, and its similar appearance to the “Eye of Sauron.”

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

To learn more about Webb, visit:

https://nasa.gov/webb

Downloads & Related Information

The following sections contain links to download this article’s images and videos in all available resolutions followed by related information links, media contacts, and if available, research paper and Spanish translation links.

Related Images & Videos

A closeup of a small section of the Helix Nebula, an expanding shell of gas and dust. Thousands of orange and gold comet-like pillars stream upward from the bottom, like thin liquid blown up a sheet of glass. These pillars are around the circumference of the arced shell, which forms a partial orange semi-circle at the bottom. The pillars are more numerous and denser at the bottom, and darker red. They fade to orange and then yellow in the arc. In the top two-thirds, they are thinner and more golden, and itu2019s easier to see the black background of space. Several bright blue stars, some with diffraction spikes, are scattered throughout. A few larger stars are on the right side.

Helix Nebula (NIRCam)

This new image of a portion of the Helix Nebula from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope highlights comet-like knots, fierce stellar winds, and layers of gas shed off by a dying star interacting with its surrounding environment.

Two panels showing different views of a planetary nebula. The left panel, labeled VISTA, shows colorful light from a glowing cloud shaped like an American football at 45-degree angle. It looks resembles an eye. The outer edges of the nebula are red and clumpy, and traveling in towards the center, they become yellow and golden. The center of the nebula is black and speckled with tiny stars. At three ou2019clock along the shell of gas, there is a rectangular box around part of the shell. Lines extend from the box to the right, where the image shows thousands of orange and gold comet-like pillars stream leftward from the right, like thin liquid blown up a sheet of glass. These pillars are around the circumference of the arced shell, which forms a partial orange semi-circle at the right. The pillars are more numerous and denser at the right, and darker red.

Helix Nebula Context (VISTA and Webb)

This image of the Helix Nebula from the ground-based Visible and Infrared Telescope for Astronomy (left) shows the full view of the planetary nebula, with a box highlighting Webb’s field of view (right).

Image titled u201cJames Webb Space Telescope, Helix Nebula, NGC 7293u201d with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key. Image shows thousands of orange and gold comet-like pillars stream upward from the bottom, like thin liquid blown up a sheet of glass. These pillars are around the circumference of the arced shell, which forms a partial orange semi-circle at the bottom. Several bright blue stars are scattered throughout. At the bottom left are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points in the 2 ou2019clock direction. The east arrow points toward 11 ou2019clock. At the lower right is a scale bar labeled .25 light-years. The length of the scale bar is about one-fifth the total width of the image. Below the image is a color key showing which NIRCam filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter. From left to right, NIRCam filters are: F115W and F187N are blue, F212N and F356W are green, F444W and F470N are red.

Helix Nebula (NIRCam Compass Image)

This image of the Helix Nebula, captured by the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument on Webb, includes compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.

Almost resembling an eye, a circular region of glowing blue gas is ringed in yellow gas, surrounded by a football-shaped red region. The nebula shines against black space dotted with stars. There is a rectangular box outlined in white at about 4 o'clock.

Observatory Comparison (Hubble/Spitzer/Webb)

This video compares images of the Helix Nebula from three NASA observatories: Hubble’s image in visible light, Spitzer’s infrared view, and Webb’s high-resolution near-infrared look.

Related Links

Read more: NASA’s Webb Traces Details of Complex Planetary Nebula

Explore more: ViewSpace Star Death: Helix Nebula

Explore more: ViewSpace Celestial Tour: Planetary Nebulae—Sculptures in the Sky

Explore more: Stellar Evolution Flipbook Activity Guide

More Webb News

More Webb Images

Webb Science Themes

Webb Mission Page


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Details

Last Updated
Jan 20, 2026

Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Hannah Braun
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland

Christine Pulliam
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland

NASA’s Webb Delivers Unprecedented Look Into Heart of Circinus Galaxy

✇NASA Breaking News
13 January 2026 at 05:00
 
7 Min Read

NASA’s Webb Delivers Unprecedented Look Into Heart of Circinus Galaxy

An artist’s illustration showing the center of the Circinus galaxy, including its supermassive black hole, dusty torus, and superheated jets of matter. The center of supermassive black hole, slightly left of center, is bright white. Two slim, bright green jets of matter shoot out from the black hole at 1 o’clock and 7 o’clock, and hit the edges of the frame. A donut-shaped, orangish-pinkish ring of dust and gas, called a torus, surrounds the black hole. The disk is clumpy closer to the center and more diffuse at the edges. The torus, tilted at the same angle as the jets, is brighter and whiter closer to the black hole than at the edges. The words Artist’s Concept is in the lower right corner.
This artist’s concept depicts the central engine of the Circinus galaxy, visualizing the supermassive black hole fed by a thick, dusty torus that glows in infrared light. 
Credits:
Artwork: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

The Circinus Galaxy, a galaxy about 13 million light-years away, contains an active supermassive black hole that continues to influence its evolution. The largest source of infrared light from the region closest to the black hole itself was thought to be outflows, or streams of superheated matter that fire outward. 

Image: Circinus Galaxy (Hubble and Webb)

Image shows a large spiral galaxy that that has a bright white center, with several lanes of reddish-brown dust and gas in between faint white arms. The galaxy takes up the center third of the frame. There are several thousand stars, some with diffraction spikes, scattered around the image. This image is labeled Hubble. A small box outlining an area at the center of the galaxy leads a pullout square at the top right. The image, labeled Webb, is dark with a white glowing oval at the center.
This image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows the Circinus galaxy. A close-up of its core from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the inner face of the hole of the donut-shaped disk of gas disk glowing in infrared light. The outer ring appears as dark spots. 
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Enrique Lopez-Rodriguez (University of South Carolina), Deepashri Thatte (STScI); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI); Acknowledgment: NSF’s NOIRLab, CTIO

Now, new observations by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, seen here with a new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, provide evidence that reverses this thinking, suggesting that most of the hot, dusty material is actually feeding the central black hole. The technique used to gather this data also has the potential to analyze the outflow and accretion components for other nearby black holes. 

The research, which includes the sharpest image of a black hole’s surroundings ever taken by Webb, published Tuesday in Nature.

Outflow question

Supermassive black holes like those in Circinus remain active by consuming surrounding matter. Infalling gas and dust accumulates into a donut-shaped ring around the black hole, known as a torus. As supermassive black holes gather matter from the torus’ inner walls, they form an accretion disk, similar to a whirlpool of water swirling around a drain. This disk grows hotter through friction, eventually becoming hot enough to emit light. 

This glowing matter can become so bright that resolving details within the galaxy’s center with ground-based telescopes is difficult. It’s made even harder due to the bright, concealing starlight within Circinus. Further, since the torus is incredibly dense, the inner region of the infalling material, heated by the black hole, is obscured from our point of view. For decades, astronomers contended with these difficulties, designing and improving models of Circinus with as much data as they could gather.

Image: Circinus Galaxy Center (Artist’s Concept)

An artist’s illustration showing the center of the Circinus galaxy, including its supermassive black hole, dusty torus, and superheated jets of matter. The center of supermassive black hole, slightly left of center, is bright white. Two slim, bright green jets of matter shoot out from the black hole at 1 o’clock and 7 o’clock, and hit the edges of the frame. A donut-shaped, orangish-pinkish ring of dust and gas, called a torus, surrounds the black hole. The disk is clumpy closer to the center and more diffuse at the edges. The torus, tilted at the same angle as the jets, is brighter and whiter closer to the black hole than at the edges. The words Artist’s Concept is in the lower right corner.
This artist’s concept depicts the central engine of the Circinus galaxy, visualizing the supermassive black hole fed by a thick, dusty torus that glows in infrared light. 
Artwork: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

“In order to study the supermassive black hole, despite being unable to resolve it, they had to obtain the total intensity of the inner region of the galaxy over a large wavelength range and then feed that data into models,” said lead author Enrique Lopez-Rodriguez of the University of South Carolina. 

Early models would fit the spectra from specific regions, such as the emissions from the torus, those of the accretion disk closest to the black hole, or those from the outflows, each detected at certain wavelengths of light. However, since the region could not be resolved in its entirety, these models left questions at several wavelengths. For example, some telescopes could detect an excess of infrared light, but lacked the resolution to determine where exactly it was coming from.

“Since the ‘90s, it has not been possible to explain excess infrared emissions that come from hot dust at the cores of active galaxies, meaning the models only take into account either the torus or the outflows, but cannot explain that excess,” said Lopez-Rodriguez.

Such models found that most of the emission (and, therefore, mass) close to the center came from outflows. To test this theory, then, astronomers needed two things: the ability to filter the starlight that previously prevented a deeper analysis, and the ability to distinguish the infrared emissions of the torus from those of the outflows. Webb, sensitive and technologically sophisticated enough to meet both challenges, was necessary to advance our understanding.

Webb’s innovative technique

To look into the center of Circinus, Webb needed the Aperture Masking Interferometer tool on its NIRISS (Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph) instrument. 

On Earth, interferometers usually take the form of telescope arrays: mirrors or antennae that work together as if they were a single telescope. An interferometer does this by gathering and combining the light from whichever source it is pointed toward, causing the electromagnetic waves that make up light to “interfere” with each other (hence, “interfere-ometer”) and creating interference patterns. These patterns can be analyzed by astronomers to reconstruct the size, shape, and features of distant objects with much greater detail than non-interferometric techniques. 

The Aperture Masking Interferometer allows Webb to become an array of smaller telescopes working together as an interferometer, creating these interference patterns by itself. It does this by utilizing a special aperture made of seven small, hexagonal holes, which, like in photography, controls the amount and direction of light that enters the telescope’s detectors.

“These holes in the mask are transformed into small collectors of light that guide the light toward the detector of the camera and create an interference pattern,” said Joel Sanchez-Bermudez, co-author based at the National University of Mexico.

With new data in hand, the research team was able to construct an image from the central region’s interference patterns. To do so, they referenced data from previous observations to ensure their data from Webb was free of any artifacts. This resulted in the first extragalactic observation from an infrared interferometer in space.

“By using an advanced imaging mode of the camera, we can effectively double its resolution over a smaller area of the sky,” Sanchez-Bermudez said. “This allows us to see images twice as sharp. Instead of Webb’s 6.5-meter diameter, it’s like we are observing this region with a 13-meter space telescope.” 

The data showed that contrary to the models predicting that the infrared excess comes from the outflows, around 87% of the infrared emissions from hot dust in Circinus come from the areas closest to the black hole, while less than 1% of emissions come from hot dusty outflows. The remaining 12% comes from distances farther away that could not previously be told apart. 

“It is the first time a high-contrast mode of Webb has been used to look at an extragalactic source,” said Julien Girard, paper co-author and senior research scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute. “We hope our work inspires other astronomers to use the Aperture Masking Interferometer mode to study faint, but relatively small, dusty structures in the vicinity of any bright object.”

Video: Circinus Galaxy Zoom

This zoom-in video shows the location of the Circinus galaxy on the sky. It begins with a ground-based photo of the constellation Circinus by the late astrophotographer Akira Fujii. The video closes in on the Circinus galaxy, using views from the Digitized Sky Survey and the Dark…
Video: NASA, ESA, CSA, Alyssa Pagan (STScI); Acknowledgment: CTIO, NSF’s NOIRLab, DSS, Akira Fujii

Universe of black holes

While the mystery of Circinus’ excess emissions has been solved, there are billions of black holes in our universe. Those of different luminosities, the team notes, may have an influence on whether most of the emissions come from a black hole’s torus or their outflows.

“The intrinsic brightness of Circinus’ accretion disk is very moderate,” Lopez-Rodriguez said. “So it makes sense that the emissions are dominated by the torus. But maybe, for brighter black holes, the emissions are dominated by the outflow.” 

With this research, astronomers now have a tested technique to investigate whichever black holes they want, so long as they are bright enough for the Aperture Masking Interferometer to be useful. Studying additional targets will be essential to building a catalog of emission data to figure out if Circinus’ results were unique or characteristic of a pattern. 

“We need a statistical sample of black holes, perhaps a dozen or two dozen, to understand how mass in their accretion disks and their outflows relate to their power,” Lopez-Rodriguez said.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

To learn more about Webb, visit: 

https://science.nasa.gov/webb

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The following sections contain links to download this article’s images and videos in all available resolutions followed by related information links, media contacts, and if available, research paper and spanish translation links.

Related Images & Videos

An artistu2019s illustration showing the center of the Circinus galaxy, including its supermassive black hole, dusty torus, and superheated jets of matter. The center of supermassive black hole, slightly left of center, is bright white. Two slim, bright green jets of matter shoot out from the black hole at 1 ou2019clock and 7 ou2019clock, and hit the edges of the frame. A donut-shaped, orangish-pinkish ring of dust and gas, called a torus, surrounds the black hole. The disk is clumpy closer to the center and more diffuse at the edges. The torus, tilted at the same angle as the jets, is brighter and whiter closer to the black hole than at the edges. The words Artistu2019s Concept is in the lower right corner.

Circinus Galaxy Center (Artist’s Concept)

This artist’s concept depicts the central engine of the Circinus galaxy, visualizing the supermassive black hole fed by a thick, dusty torus that glows in infrared light.

Image shows a large spiral galaxy that that has a bright white center, with several lanes of reddish-brown dust and gas in between faint white arms. The galaxy takes up the center third of the frame. There are several thousand stars, some with diffraction spikes, scattered around the image. This image is labeled Hubble. A small box outlining an area at the center of the galaxy leads a pullout square at the top right. The image, labeled Webb, is dark with a white glowing oval at the center.

Circinus Galaxy (Hubble and Webb)

This image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows the Circinus galaxy. A close-up of its core from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the inner face of the hole of the donut-shaped disk of gas disk glowing in infrared light. The outer ring appears as dark spots.

Image titled u201cJames Webb Space Telescope; Circinus Galaxy, ESO 97-G13,u201d with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key. Image shows a large spiral galaxy that that has a bright white center, with several lanes of reddish-brown dust and gas in between faint white arms. This image is labeled Hubble. A small box outlining an area at the center of the galaxy leads a pullout square at the top right. The image, labeled Webb, is dark with a white glowing oval at the center. At the bottom left are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 7 ou2019clock. The north arrow points in the 11 ou2019clock direction. At the bottom right of each image is a scale bar. The Hubble one is labeled 1,300 light-years and 400 parsecs and is one eighth the image. The Webb label is 2 pcs and is 1 fifth the inset image. Below the image is a color key showing which filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter.

Circinus Galaxy (Hubble and Webb Compass Image)

This image shows two views of the Circinus galaxy, one captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and the other by the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRISS (Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph. It shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.

Telescope image including stars on the night sky and splotches of pink. Thin blue lines connect the actual stars of several constellations.

Circinus Galaxy Zoom

This zoom-in video shows the location of the Circinus galaxy on the sky. It begins with a ground-based photo of the constellation Circinus by the late astrophotographer Akira Fujii. The video closes in on the Circinus galaxy, using views from the Digitized Sky Survey and the Dark…

Related Links

Read more: The Modes of Webb’s NIRISS

Explore more: Black Hole Resources from NASA’s Universe of Learning

Read more:  Webb’s Scientific Instruments

Video: NASA Animation Sizes Up the Universe’s Biggest Black Holes

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Last Updated
Jan 13, 2026
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Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Matthew Brown
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland

Hannah Braun
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland

Scientists Identify ‘Astronomy’s Platypus’ with NASA’s Webb Telescope

✇NASA Breaking News
6 January 2026 at 12:16
 
5 Min Read

Scientists Identify ‘Astronomy’s Platypus’ with NASA’s Webb Telescope

James Webb Space Telescope image showing a broad area of space with many small galaxies, four of which are highlighted in pull-out boxes. The four highlighted galaxies are very small, appearing as points of light. Black areas of the overall image indicate where the telescope did not collect data – a vertical section in the center and a square in the lower left corner.
Four of the nine galaxies in the newly identified “platypus” sample were discovered in NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS). One key feature that makes them distinct is their point-like appearance.
Credits: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Steve Finkelstein (UT Austin); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

After combing through NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s archive of sweeping extragalactic cosmic fields, a small team of astronomers at the University of Missouri says they have identified a sample of galaxies that have a previously unseen combination of features. Principal investigator Haojing Yan compares the discovery to an infamous oddball in another branch of science: biology’s taxonomy-defying platypus.

“It seems that we’ve identified a population of galaxies that we can’t categorize, they are so odd. On the one hand they are extremely tiny and compact, like a point source, yet we do not see the characteristics of a quasar, an active supermassive black hole, which is what most distant point sources are,” said Yan.

The research was presented in a press conference at the 247th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Phoenix. 

Image A: Galaxies in CEERS Field (NIRCam image)

James Webb Space Telescope image showing a broad area of space with many small galaxies, four of which are highlighted in pull-out boxes. The four highlighted galaxies are very small, appearing as points of light. Black areas of the overall image indicate where the telescope did not collect data u2013 a vertical section in the center and a square in the lower left corner.
Four of the nine galaxies in the newly identified “platypus” sample were discovered in NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS). One key feature that makes them distinct is their point-like appearance, even to a telescope that can capture as much detail as Webb.
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Steve Finkelstein (UT Austin); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

“I looked at these characteristics and thought, this is like looking at a platypus. You think that these things should not exist together, but there it is right in front of you, and it’s undeniable,” Yan said.

The team whittled down a sample of 2,000 sources across several Webb surveys to identify nine point-like sources that existed 12 to 12.6 billion years ago (compared to the universe’s age of 13.8 billion years). Spectral data gives astronomers more information than they can get from an image alone, and for these nine sources it doesn’t fit existing definitions. They are too far away to be stars in our own galaxy, and too faint to be quasars, which are so brilliant that they outshine their host galaxies. Though the spectra resemble the less distant “green pea” galaxies discovered in 2009, the galaxies in this sample are much more compact.

“Like spectra, the detailed genetic code of a platypus provides additional information that shows just how unusual the animal is, sharing genetic features with birds, reptiles, and mammals,” said Yan. “Together, Webb’s imaging and spectra are telling us that these galaxies have an unexpected combination of features.”

Yan explained that for typical quasars, the peaks in their characteristic spectral emission lines look like hills, with a broad base, indicating the high velocity of gas swirling around their supermassive black hole. Instead, the peaks for the “platypus population” are narrow and sharp, indicating slower gas movement. 

While there are narrow-line galaxies that host active supermassive black holes, they do not have the point-like feature of the sample Yan’s team has identified.

Image B: Galaxy CEERS 4233-42232: Comparison With Quasar Spectrum

Infographic titled Galaxy CEERS 4233-42232, comparison with quasar spectrum. Text at top right reads NIRSpec, Multi-Object Spectroscopy. Vertical Y axis of graph is labeled Brightness, more with an arrow pointing up and less with an arrow pointing down. Horizontal X axis is labeled Velocity of Gas (miles/second) in increments of one thousand starting with negative 4,000 on the left to 4,000 on the right. The spectrum of the galaxy is shown with a white line that peaks sharply at zero. The spectrum of the quasar example is shown with a dashed blue line that also peaks at zero, but with less brightness and a broader base that begins to increase in brightness at negative 1,000 miles per second the and declines to at about 1,500 miles per second.
This graphic illustrates the pronounced narrow peak of the spectra that caught researchers’ attention in a small sample of galaxies, represented here by galaxy CEERS 4233-42232. Typically, distant point-like light sources are quasars, but quasar spectra have a much broader shape.
Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

Has Yan’s team discovered a missing link in the cosmos? Once the team determined that the objects didn’t fit the definition of a quasar, graduate student researcher Bangzheng Sun analyzed the data to see if there were signatures of star-forming galaxies.

“From the low-resolution spectra we have, we can’t rule out the possibility that these nine objects are star-forming galaxies. That data fits,” said Sun. “The strange thing in that case is that the galaxies are so tiny and compact, even though Webb has the resolving power to show us a lot of detail at this distance.”

One proposal the team suggests is that Webb, as promised, is revealing earlier stages of galaxy formation and evolution than we have ever been able to see before. It is generally accepted across the astronomy community that large, massive galaxies like our own Milky Way grew by many smaller galaxies merging together. But, Yan asks, what comes before small galaxies? 

“I think this new research is presenting us with the question, how does the process of galaxy formation first begin? Can such small, building-block galaxies be formed in a quiet way, before chaotic mergers begin, as their point-like appearance suggests?” Yan said.

To begin answering that question, as well as to determine more about the nature of their odd platypuses, the team says they need a much larger sample than nine to analyze, and with higher-resolution spectra. 

“We cast a wide net, and we found a few examples of something incredible. These nine objects weren’t the focus; they were just in the background of broad Webb surveys,” said Yan. “Now it’s time to think about the implications of that, and how we can use Webb’s capabilities to learn more.”

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

To learn more about Webb, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/webb

Downloads & Related Information

The following sections contain links to download this article’s images and videos in all available resolutions followed by related information links, media contacts, and if available, research paper and spanish translation links.

Related Images & Videos

James Webb Space Telescope image showing a broad area of space with many small galaxies, four of which are highlighted in pull-out boxes. The four highlighted galaxies are very small, appearing as points of light. Black areas of the overall image indicate where the telescope did not collect data - a vertical section in the center and a square in the lower left corner.

Galaxies in CEERS Field (NIRCam image)

Four of the nine galaxies in the newly identified “platypus” sample were discovered in NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey” (CEERS). One key feature that makes them distinct is their point-like appearance.

Infographic titled Galaxy CEERS 4233-42232, comparison with quasar spectrum. Text at top right reads NIRSpec, Multi-Object Spectroscopy. Vertical Y axis of graph is labeled Brightness, more with an arrow pointing up and less with an arrow pointing down. Horizontal X axis is labeled Velocity of Gas (miles/second) in increments of one thousand starting with negative 4,000 on the left to 4,000 on the right. The spectrum of the galaxy is shown with a white line that peaks sharply at zero. The spectrum of the quasar example is shown with a dashed blue line that also peaks at zero, but with less brightness and a broader base that begins to increase in brightness at negative 1,000 miles per second the and declines to at about 1,500 miles per second.

Galaxy CEERS 4233-42232: Comparison With Quasar Spectrum

This graphic illustrates the pronounced narrow peak of the spectra that caught researchers’ attention in a small sample of galaxies, represented here by galaxy CEERS 4233-42232. Typically, distant point-like light sources are quasars, but quasar spectra have a much broader shape.

Related Links

Read more: Webb Science: Galaxies Through Time

Explore more: ViewSpace Seeing Farther: Hubble Ultra Deep Field

Explore more: JWST’s Tiny Red Sources and the Big Questions They Raise

Read more: Webb Shows Many Early Galaxies Looked Like Pool Noodles, Surfboards

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Last Updated
Jan 06, 2026
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Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Leah Ramsay
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland

Christine Pulliam
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland

NASA Webb Finds Early-Universe Analog’s Unexpected Talent for Making Dust

✇NASA Breaking News
6 January 2026 at 12:14
 
6 Min Read

NASA Webb Finds Early-Universe Analog’s Unexpected Talent for Making Dust

A region of space is filled with stars and clumps of glowing orange and tan dust. A small portion of the sky at the center of the image is outlined with a white box. Lines extend from the corner of the box to the inset panel at the top right showing a magnified version of the outlined portion of the image. In the inset, there are smatterings of dim whitish-blueish stars and about seven glowing red orbs across the center in a line. Also across the center of the inset is a green glow. The background of the image is filled with stars and galaxies of various shapes and colors.
Images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope of the dwarf galaxy Sextans A reveal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), large carbon-based molecules that can be a signifier of star formation. The inset at the top right zooms in on those PAHs, which are represented in green.
Credits: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Elizabeth Tarantino (STScI), Martha Boyer (STScI), Julia Roman-Duval (STScI); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have spotted two rare kinds of dust in the dwarf galaxy Sextans A, one of the most chemically primitive galaxies near the Milky Way. The finding of metallic iron dust and silicon carbide (SiC) produced by aging stars, along with tiny clumps of carbon-based molecules, shows that even when the universe had only a fraction of today’s heavy elements, stars and the interstellar medium could still forge solid dust grains. This research with Webb is reshaping ideas about how early galaxies evolved and developed the building blocks for planets, as NASA explores the secrets of the universe and our place in it.

Sextans A lies about 4 million light-years away and contains only 3 to 7 percent of the Sun’s metal content, or metallicity, the astrophysical term for elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. Because the galaxy is so small, unlike other nearby galaxies, its gravitational pull is too weak to retain the heavy elements like iron and oxygen created by supernovae and aging stars.

Galaxies like it resemble those that filled the early universe just after the big bang, when the universe was made of mostly hydrogen and helium, before stars had time to enrich space with ‘metals.’ Because it is relatively close, Sextans A gives astronomers a rare chance to study individual stars and interstellar clouds under conditions similar to those shortly after the big bang.

“Sextans A is giving us a blueprint for the first dusty galaxies,” said Elizabeth Tarantino, postdoctoral researcher at the Space Telescope Science Institute and lead author of the results in one of the two studies presented at a press conference at the 247th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Phoenix. “These results help us interpret the most distant galaxies imaged by Webb and understand what the universe was building with its earliest ingredients.”

Image A: Sextans A PAHs Pull-out (NIRCam and MIRI Image)

A region of space is filled with stars and clumps of glowing orange and tan dust. A small portion of the sky at the center of the image is outlined with a white box. Lines extend from the corner of the box to the inset panel at the top right showing a magnified version of the outlined portion of the image. In the inset, there are smatterings of dim whitish-blueish stars and about seven glowing red orbs across the center in a line. Also across the center of the inset is a green glow. The background of the image is filled with stars and galaxies of various shapes and colors.
Images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope of the dwarf galaxy Sextans A reveal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), large carbon-based molecules that can be a signifier of star formation. The inset at the top right zooms in on those PAHs, which are represented in green.
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Elizabeth Tarantino (STScI), Martha Boyer (STScI), Julia Roman-Duval (STScI); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Forging dust without usual ingredients

One of those studies, published in the Astrophysical Journal, honed in on a half a dozen stars with the low-resolution spectrometer aboard Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). The data collected shows the chemical fingerprints of the bloated stars very late in their evolution, called asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. Stars with masses between one and eight times that of the Sun pass through this phase.

“One of these stars is on the high-mass end of the AGB range, and stars like this usually produce silicate dust. However, at such low metallicity, we expect these stars to be nearly dust-free,” said Martha Boyer, associate astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute and lead author in that second companion study. “Instead, Webb revealed a star forging dust grains made almost entirely of iron. This is something we’ve never seen in stars that are analogs of stars in the early universe.”

Silicates, the usual dust formed by oxygen-rich stars, require elements like silicon and magnesium that are almost nonexistent in Sextans A. It would be like trying to bake cookies in a kitchen without flour, sugar, and butter. 

A normal cosmic kitchen, like the Milky Way, has those crucial ingredients in the form of silicon, carbon, and iron. In a primitive kitchen, like Sextans A, where almost all of those ingredients are missing, you barely have any proverbial flour or sugar. Therefore, astronomers expected that without those key ingredients, stars in Sextans A couldn’t “bake” much dust at all. 

However, not only did they find dust, but Webb showed that one of these stars used an entirely different recipe than usual to make that dust. 

The iron-only dust, as well as silicon carbide produced by the less massive AGB stars despite the galaxy’s low silicon abundance, proves that evolved stars can still build solid material even when the typical ingredients are missing. 

“Dust in the early universe may have looked very different from the silicate grains we see today,” Boyer said. “These iron grains absorb light efficiently but leave no sharp spectral fingerprints and can contribute to the large dust reservoirs seen in far-away galaxies detected by Webb.”

Image B: Sextans A Context Image (Webb and KPNO)

Two panels showing different views of a small galaxy. The left panel, labeled Webb, shows a region of space filled with stars and small clumps of glowing orange and tan dust. The right panel is labeled KPNO. This image shows stars on the black background of space, with a higher concentration of them in a globe at the center. On the edges of this circular globe, there are puffs of pink gas. A small portion of the of the galaxy in the right panel is outlined with a white box, and the image from the left panel appears in that box at a 45-degree angle. Lines extend from the corner of the box to the panel at the left.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s image of a portion of the nearby Sextans A galaxy is put into context using a ground-based image from the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory.
Image: STScI, NASA, ESA, CSA, KPNO, NSF’s NOIRLab, AURA, Elizabeth Tarantino (STScI), Phil Massey (Lowell Obs.), George Jacoby (NSF, AURA), Chris Smith (NSF, AURA); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Travis Rector (UAA), Mahdi Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab), Davide De Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)

Tiny clumps of organic molecules

In the companion study, currently under peer review, Webb imaged Sextans A’s interstellar medium and discovered polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are complex, carbon-based molecules and the smallest dust grains that glow in infrared light. The discovery means Sextans A is now the lowest-metallicity galaxy ever found to contain PAHs.

But, unlike the broad, sweeping PAH emission seen in metal-rich galaxies, Webb revealed PAHs in tiny, dense pockets only a few light-years across.

“Webb shows that PAHs can form and survive even in the most metal-starved galaxies, but only in small, protected islands of dense gas,” said Tarantino. 

The clumps likely represent regions where dust shielding and gas density reach just high enough to allow PAHs to form and grow, solving a decades-long mystery about why PAHs seem to vanish in metal-poor galaxies.

The team has an approved Webb Cycle 4 program to use high-resolution spectroscopy to study the detailed chemistry of Sextans A’s PAH clumps further. 

Image C: Giant Star in Dwarf Galaxy Sextans A (Spectrum)

Graphic titled “Giant Star in Dwarf Galaxy Sextans A: Iron-Rich Dust at Low Metallicities” showing a graph of brightness versus wavelength, with two sets of data and two model spectra. One set of data is represented in 12 orange triangle data points, and the other is a solid yellow line. A cyan solid line represents “Iron + 0.8% silicates” and a red dashed line represents “Iron + 5% silicates.” They appear on a graph of Brightness on the y-axis versus Wavelength of Light in microns on x-axis. The y-axis ranges from dimmer at bottom to brighter at top. The x-axis ranges from 0 to 12 microns.
This graph shows a spectrum of an Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) star in the Sextans A galaxy. It compares data collected by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope with models of mostly silicate-free dust and dust containing at least 5% silicates. 
Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

Connecting two discoveries

Together, the results show that the early universe had more diverse dust production pathways than the more established and proven methods, like supernova explosions. Additionally, researchers now know there’s more dust than predicted at extremely low metallicities. 

“Every discovery in Sextans A reminds us that the early universe was more inventive than we imagined,” said Boyer. “Clearly stars found a way to make the building blocks of planets long before galaxies like our own existed.”

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

To learn more about Webb, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/webb

Downloads & Related Information

The following sections contain links to download this article’s images and videos in all available resolutions followed by related information links, media contacts, and if available, research paper and spanish translation links.

Related Images & Videos

A region of space is filled with stars and clumps of glowing orange and tan dust. A small portion of the sky at the center of the image is outlined with a white box. Lines extend from the corner of the box to the inset panel at the top right showing a magnified version of the outlined portion of the image. In the inset, there are smatterings of dim whitish-blueish stars and about seven glowing red orbs across the center in a line. Also across the center of the inset is a green glow. The background of the image is filled with stars and galaxies of various shapes and colors.

Sextans A PAHs Pull-out (NIRCam and MIRI Image)

Images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope of the dwarf galaxy Sextans A reveal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), large carbon-based molecules that can be a signifier of star formation. The inset at the top right zooms in on those PAHs, which are represented in green.

Two panels showing different views of a small galaxy. The left panel, labeled Webb, shows a region of space filled with stars and small clumps of glowing orange and tan dust. The right panel is labeled KPNO. This image shows stars on the black background of space, with a higher concentration of them in a globe at the center. On the edges of this circular globe, there are puffs of pink gas. A small portion of the of the galaxy in the right panel is outlined with a white box, and the image from the left panel appears in that box at a 45-degree angle. Lines extend from the corner of the box to the panel at the left.

Sextans A Context Image (Webb and KPNO)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s image of a portion of the nearby Sextans A galaxy is put into context using a ground-based image from the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory.

Image titled u201cJames Webb Space Telescope; Sextans A, UGCA 205,u201d with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key. At the left, a region of space is filled with stars and clumps of glowing orange and tan dust. A small portion of the sky at the center of the image is outlined with a white box. In the inset, there are smatterings of dim whitish-blueish stars and about seven glowing red orbs across the center in a line. Also across center of the image is a green glow. At the bottom left are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 2 ou2019clock. The north arrow points in the 10 ou2019clock direction. At the bottom left is a scale bar labeled 300 light-years, 15 arcsec. The length of the scale bar is about one tenth of the total image. Below the image is a color key showing which NIRCam and MIRI filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter.

Sextans A PAHs Pull-out (Compass Image)

This image of dwarf galaxy Sextans A, captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.

Graphic titled u201cGiant Star in Dwarf Galaxy Sextans A: Iron-Rich Dust at Low Metallicitiesu201d showing a graph of brightness versus wavelength, with two sets of data and two model spectra. One set of data is represented in 12 orange triangle data points, and the other is a solid yellow line. A cyan solid line represents u201cIron + 0.8% silicatesu201d and a red dashed line represents u201cIron + 5% silicates.u201d They appear on a graph of Brightness on the y-axis versus Wavelength of Light in microns on x-axis. The y-axis ranges from dimmer at bottom to brighter at top. The x-axis ranges from 0 to 12 microns.

Giant Star in Dwarf Galaxy Sextans A (Spectrum)

This graph shows a spectrum of an Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) star in the Sextans A galaxy. It compares data collected by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope with models of mostly silicate-free dust and dust containing at least 5% silicates.

Related Links

Read more: Webb Science: Galaxies Through Time

Explore more: Massive stars: Engines of Creation

Explore more: Wolf-Rayet Apep Visualization

Read more: Spectroscopy 101

More Webb News

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Webb Science Themes

Webb Mission Page

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What is the Webb Telescope?

SpacePlace for Kids

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Last Updated
Jan 06, 2026
Contact
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Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Hannah Braun
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland

NASA’s Fermi Spots Young Star Cluster Blowing Gamma-Ray Bubbles

✇NASA Breaking News
18 December 2025 at 10:15

4 min read

NASA’s Fermi Spots Young Star Cluster Blowing Gamma-Ray Bubbles

For the first time, astronomers using NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have traced a budding outflow of gas from a cluster of young stars in our galaxy — insights that help us understand how the universe has evolved as NASA explores the secrets of the cosmos for the benefit of all.

The cluster, called Westerlund 1, is located about 12,000 light-years away in the southern constellation Ara. It’s the closest, most massive, and most luminous super star cluster in the Milky Way. The only reason Westerlund 1 isn’t visible to the unaided eye is because it’s surrounded by thick clouds of dust. Its outflow extends below the plane of the galaxy and is filled with high-speed, hard-to-study particles called cosmic rays.

“Understanding cosmic ray outflows is crucial to better comprehending the long-term evolution of the Milky Way,” said Marianne Lemoine-Goumard, an astrophysicist at the University of Bordeaux in France. “We think these particles carry a large amount of the energy released within clusters. They could help drive galactic winds, regulate star formation, and distribute chemical elements within the galaxy.”

A paper detailing the results published Dec. 9 in Nature Communications. Lemoine-Goumard led the research with Lucia Härer and Lars Mohrmann, both at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany.

A cluster of multicolored stars
This image of super star cluster Westerlund 1 was captured with the Near-InfraRed Camera on NASA’s James Webb’s Space Telescope. The cluster is largely hidden at visible wavelengths by dust clouds, which infrared light penetrates. Westerlund 1’s large, dense, and diverse stellar population of massive stars has no other known counterpart in the Milky Way.
ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), M. G. Guarcello (INAF-OAPA) and the EWOCS team

Super star clusters like Westerlund 1 contain more than 10,000 times our Sun’s mass. They are also more luminous and contain higher numbers of rare, massive stars than other clusters.

Scientists think that supernova explosions and stellar winds within star clusters push ambient gas outward, propelling cosmic rays to near light speed. About 90% of these particles are hydrogen nuclei, or protons, and the remainder are electrons and the nuclei of heavier elements.

Because cosmic ray particles are electrically charged, they change course when they encounter magnetic fields. This means scientists can’t trace them back to their sources. Gamma rays, however, travel in a straight line. Gamma rays are the highest-energy form of light, and cosmic rays produce gamma rays when they interact with matter in their environment.

Most gamma-ray observations of stellar clusters have limited resolution, so astronomers effectively see them as indistinct areas of emission. Because Westerlund 1 is so close and bright, however, it’s easier to study.

A top-down view of the Milky Way galaxy
Westerlund 1 is located closer to the center of the Milky Way than our Sun, as shown in this artist’s concept. Westerlund 1 is one of only a few known super star clusters in our galaxy and is the closest, brightest, and most massive one discovered so far.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab
A view of the underside of the Milky Way galaxy
This artist’s concept shows the location of Westerlund 1 relative to our Sun as seen from the underside of our Milky Way galaxy. The magenta bubble illustrates what the nascent outflow might look like in gamma rays. Westerlund 1 is located slightly below the middle of the galactic disk, so stellar activity pushes gas preferentially along a path of lower density beneath the disk.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab

In 2022, scientists using a group of telescopes in Namibia operated by the Max Planck Institute called the High Energy Spectroscopic System detected a distinct ring of gamma rays around Westerlund 1 with energies trillions of times higher than visible light.

Lemoine-Goumard, Härer, and Mohrmann wondered if the cluster’s unique properties might allow them to see other details by looking back through nearly two decades of Fermi data at slightly lower energies — millions to billions of times the energy of visible light.

Fermi’s sensitivity and resolution allowed the researchers to filter out other gamma-ray sources like rapidly spinning stellar remnants called pulsars, background radiation, and Westerlund 1 itself.

What was left was a bubble of gamma rays extending over 650 light-years from the cluster below the plane of the Milky Way. That means the outflow is about 200 times larger than Westerlund 1 itself.

Fermi and Webb data of Westerlund 1 and its early outflow
Data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveal the budding gas bubble of star cluster Westerlund 1. Brighter colors indicate a stronger likelihood that gamma rays arise from specific types of point sources, notably two pulsars located at center and in the brightest portion of the image. Pink contours denote steep changes in likelihood. An underlying orange-magenta feature extends down the image, starting from the cluster’s location, and represents the nascent outflow. The grey lines indicate distance below the galactic plane. The bubble is over 650 light-years long and angles slightly away from us. Westerlund 1’s stellar activity more easily pushes gas outward into lower-density regions of the galaxy’s disk.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Lemoine-Goumard et al. 2025; ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), M. G. Guarcello (INAF-OAPA) and the EWOCS team

The researchers call this a nascent, or early stage, outflow because it was likely recently produced by massive young stars within the cluster and hasn’t yet had time to break out of the galactic disk. Eventually it will stream into the galactic halo, the hot gas surrounding the Milky Way.

Westerlund 1 is located slightly below the galactic plane, so the researchers think the gas expanded asymmetrically, following the path of least resistance into a zone of lower density below the disk.

“One of the next steps is to model how the cosmic rays travel across this distance and how they create a changing gamma-ray energy spectrum,” Härer said. “We’d also like to look for similar features in other star clusters. We got very lucky with Westerlund 1, though, since it’s so massive, bright, and close. But now we know what to look for, and we might find something even more surprising.”

“Since it started operations 17 years ago, Fermi has continued to advance our understanding of the universe around us,” said Elizabeth Hays, Fermi’s project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “From activity in distant galaxies to lightning storms in our own atmosphere, the gamma-ray sky continues to astound us.”

By Jeanette Kazmierczak
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
301-286-1940
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

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NASA’s Webb Observes Exoplanet Whose Composition Defies Explanation

✇NASA Breaking News
16 December 2025 at 10:00
 

6 min read

NASA’s Webb Observes Exoplanet Whose Composition Defies Explanation

6 Min Read

NASA’s Webb Observes Exoplanet Whose Composition Defies Explanation

llustration labeled “artist’s concept” at right bottom corner. At left bottom corner, a partially illuminated, lemon-shaped exoplanet appears against a black background. This planet is most brightly illuminated at its elongated tip on its right side. On the left side, which is wider, the planet trails off into the darkness of the background. The planet is colored in varying, mottled shades of red, light pink, and fuchsia. Most of the pink occurs closest to the tip, while most of the fuchsia is at the top and bottom edges. At right top corner, a white beam emanates diagonally, oriented from 10 o’clock to 4 o’clock, from either side of a small, glowing, white star.
This artist’s concept shows what the exoplanet called PSR J2322-2650b (left) may look like as it orbits a rapidly spinning neutron star called a pulsar (right).
Credits:
Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

Scientists using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have observed a rare type of exoplanet, or planet outside our solar system, whose atmospheric composition challenges our understanding of how it formed. 

Officially named PSR J2322-2650b, this Jupiter-mass object appears to have an exotic helium-and-carbon-dominated atmosphere unlike any ever seen before. Soot clouds likely float through the air, and deep within the planet, these carbon clouds can condense and form diamonds. How the planet came to be is a mystery. The paper appears Tuesday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 

“This was an absolute surprise,” said study co-author Peter Gao of the Carnegie Earth and Planets Laboratory in Washington. “I remember after we got the data down, our collective reaction was ‘What the heck is this?’ It’s extremely different from what we expected.”

Image A: Exoplanet PSR J2322-2650b and Pulsar (Artist’s Concept)

llustration labeled u201cartistu2019s conceptu201d at right bottom corner. At left bottom corner, a partially illuminated, lemon-shaped exoplanet appears against a black background. This planet is most brightly illuminated at its elongated tip on its right side. On the left side, which is wider, the planet trails off into the darkness of the background. The planet is colored in varying, mottled shades of red, light pink, and fuchsia. Most of the pink occurs closest to the tip, while most of the fuchsia is at the top and bottom edges. At right top corner, a white beam emanates diagonally, oriented from 10 ou2019clock to 4 ou2019clock, from either side of a small, glowing, white star.
This artist’s concept shows what the exoplanet called PSR J2322-2650b (left) may look like as it orbits a rapidly spinning neutron star called a pulsar (right). Gravitational forces from the much heavier pulsar are pulling the Jupiter-mass world into a bizarre lemon shape.
Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

This planet-mass object was known to orbit a pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star. A pulsar emits beams of electromagnetic radiation at regular intervals typically ranging from milliseconds to seconds. These pulsing beams can only be seen when they are pointing directly toward Earth, much like beams from a lighthouse.  

This millisecond pulsar is expected to be emitting mostly gamma rays and other high energy particles, which are invisible to Webb’s infrared vision. Without a bright star in the way, scientists can study the planet in intricate detail across its whole orbit. 

“This system is unique because we are able to view the planet illuminated by its host star, but not see the host star at all,” said Maya Beleznay, a third-year PhD candidate at Stanford University in California who worked on modeling the shape of the planet and the geometry of its orbit. “So we get a really pristine spectrum. And we can study this system in more detail than normal exoplanets.” 

“The planet orbits a star that’s completely bizarre — the mass of the Sun, but the size of a city,” said the University of Chicago’s Michael Zhang, the principal investigator on this study. “This is a new type of planet atmosphere that nobody has ever seen before. Instead of finding the normal molecules we expect to see on an exoplanet — like water, methane, and carbon dioxide — we saw molecular carbon, specifically C3 and C2.”

Molecular carbon is very unusual because at these temperatures, if there are any other types of atoms in the atmosphere, carbon will bind to them. (Temperatures on the planet range from 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit at the coldest points of the night side to 3,700 degrees Fahrenheit at the hottest points of the day side.) Molecular carbon is only dominant if there’s almost no oxygen or nitrogen. Out of the approximately 150 planets that astronomers have studied inside and outside the solar system, no others have any detectable molecular carbon.

PSR J2322-2650b is extraordinarily close to its star, just 1 million miles away. In contrast, Earth’s distance from the Sun is about 100 million miles. Because of its extremely tight orbit, the exoplanet’s entire year — the time it takes to go around its star — is just 7.8 hours. Gravitational forces from the much heavier pulsar are pulling the Jupiter-mass planet into a bizarre lemon shape.

Image B: Exoplanet PSR J2322-2650b (Artist’s Concept)

Partially illuminated, lemon-shaped planet appears against a black background. The planet is most brightly illuminated at its elongated tip on its right side. On the left side, which is wider, the planet trails off into the darkness of the background. The planet is colored in varying, mottled shades of red, light pink, and fuchsia. Most of the pink occurs closest to the tip, while most of the fuchsia is at the top and bottom edges.
This artist’s concept shows what the exoplanet PSR J2322-2650b may look like. Gravitational forces from the much heavier pulsar it orbits are pulling the Jupiter-mass world into this bizarre lemon shape.
Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

Together, the star and exoplanet may be considered a “black widow” system, though not a typical example. Black widow systems are a rare type of double system where a rapidly spinning pulsar is paired with a small, low-mass stellar companion. In the past, material from the companion streamed onto the pulsar, causing the pulsar to spin faster over time, which powers a strong wind. That wind and radiation then bombard and evaporate the smaller and less massive companion. Like the spider for which it is named, the pulsar slowly consumes its unfortunate partner.

But in this case, the companion is officially considered an exoplanet, not a star. The International Astronomical Union defines an exoplanet as a celestial body below 13 Jupiter masses that orbits a star, brown dwarf, or stellar remnant, such as a pulsar.

Of the 6,000 known exoplanets, this is the only one reminiscent of a gas giant (with mass, radius, and temperature similar to a hot Jupiter) orbiting a pulsar. Only a handful of pulsars are known to have planets.

“Did this thing form like a normal planet? No, because the composition is entirely different,” said Zhang. “Did it form by stripping the outside of a star, like ‘normal’ black widow systems are formed? Probably not, because nuclear physics does not make pure carbon. It’s very hard to imagine how you get this extremely carbon-enriched composition. It seems to rule out every known formation mechanism.”

Study co-author Roger Romani, of Stanford University and the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology Institute, proposes one evocative phenomenon that could occur in the unique atmosphere. “As the companion cools down, the mixture of carbon and oxygen in the interior starts to crystallize,” said Romani. “Pure carbon crystals float to the top and get mixed into the helium, and that’s what we see. But then something has to happen to keep the oxygen and nitrogen away. And that’s where the mystery come in.

“But it’s nice to not know everything,” said Romani. “I’m looking forward to learning more about the weirdness of this atmosphere. It’s great to have a puzzle to go after.”

Video A: Exoplanet PSR J2322-2650b and Pulsar (Artist’s Concept)

This animation shows an exotic exoplanet orbiting a distant pulsar, or rapidly rotating neutron star with radio pulses. The planet, which orbits about 1 million miles away from the pulsar, is stretched into a lemon shape by the pulsar’s strong gravitational tides.

Animation: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

With its infrared vision and exquisite sensitivity, this is a discovery only the Webb telescope could make. Its perch a million miles from Earth and its huge sunshield keep the instruments very cold, which is necessary for these observations. It is not possible to conduct this study from the ground.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

To learn more about Webb, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/webb

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The following sections contain links to download this article’s images and videos in all available resolutions followed by related information links, media contacts, and if available, research paper and spanish translation links.

Related Images & Videos

llustration labeled u201cartistu2019s conceptu201d at right bottom corner. At left bottom corner, a partially illuminated, lemon-shaped exoplanet appears against a black background. This planet is most brightly illuminated at its elongated tip on its right side. On the left side, which is wider, the planet trails off into the darkness of the background. The planet is colored in varying, mottled shades of red, light pink, and fuchsia. Most of the pink occurs closest to the tip, while most of the fuchsia is at the top and bottom edges. At right top corner, a white beam emanates diagonally, oriented from 10 ou2019clock to 4 ou2019clock, from either side of a small, glowing, white star.

Exoplanet PSR J2322-2650b and Pulsar (Artist’s Concept)

This artist’s concept shows what the exoplanet called PSR J2322-2650b (left) may look like as it orbits a rapidly spinning neutron star called a pulsar (right). Gravitational forces from the much heavier pulsar are pulling the Jupiter-mass world into a bizarre lemon shape.

Partially illuminated, lemon-shaped planet appears against a black background. The planet is most brightly illuminated at its elongated tip on its right side. On the left side, which is wider, the planet trails off into the darkness of the background. The planet is colored in varying, mottled shades of red, light pink, and fuchsia. Most of the pink occurs closest to the tip, while most of the fuchsia is at the top and bottom edges.

Exoplanet PSR J2322-2650b (Artist’s Concept)

This artist’s concept shows what the exoplanet PSR J2322-2650b may look like. Gravitational forces from the much heavier pulsar it orbits are pulling the Jupiter-mass world into this bizarre lemon shape.

Against a black background, a white beam emanates diagonally, oriented from 11 ou2019clock to 5 ou2019clock, from either side of a small, glowing, white star. To the right of this star, a partially illuminated, lemon-shaped exoplanet appears. This planet is most brightly illuminated at its elongated tip on its left side. The planetu2019s right side, which is wider, appears to trail off into the darkness of the background. The planet is colored in varying, mottled shades of red, light pink, and fuchsia. Most of the pink occurs closest to the tip, while most of the fuchsia is at the top and bottom edges.

Exoplanet PSR J2322-2650b Orbiting a Pulsar

This animation shows an exotic exoplanet orbiting a distant pulsar, or rapidly rotating neutron star with radio pulses. The planet, which orbits about 1 million miles away from the pulsar, is stretched into a lemon shape by the pulsar’s strong gravitational tides. NASA&rsqu…

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Last Updated
Dec 16, 2025
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Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Ann Jenkins
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland

Christine Pulliam
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland

NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory Reveals ‘First Light’ Images

✇NASA Breaking News
16 December 2025 at 09:30

3 min read

NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory Reveals ‘First Light’ Images

NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory has captured its first images from space, revealing rare views of Earth and the Moon in ultraviolet light. Taken on Nov. 17 — still months before the mission’s science phase begins — these “first light” images confirm the spacecraft is healthy while hinting at the incredible views to come.

The initial images consist of two from Carruthers’ Wide Field Imager and two from its Narrow Field Imager. Each imager captured two different views: one showing a broad spectrum of far ultraviolet light, and one revealing light from Earth’s geocorona.

Comparison of wide field and narrow field images from NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory: Each column shows far ultraviolet and Lyman-alpha views of Earth, with brightness color scales, using wide and narrow field imagers.
These four images constitute the “first light” for the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory mission. The images were taken on Nov. 17, 2025, from a location near the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1 by the spacecraft’s Wide Field Imager (left column) and Narrow Field Imager (right column) in far ultraviolet light (top row) and the specific wavelength of light emitted by atomic hydrogen known as Lyman-alpha (bottom row). Earth is the larger, bright circle near the middle of each image; the Moon is the smaller circle below and to the left of it. The fuzzy “halo” around Earth in the images in the bottom row is the geocorona: the ultraviolet light emitted by Earth’s exosphere, or outermost atmospheric layer. The lunar surface still shines in Lyman-alpha because its rocky surface reflects all wavelengths of sunlight — one reason it is important to compare Lyman-alpha images with the broad ultraviolet filter. The far ultraviolet light imagery from the Narrow Field Imagery also captured two background stars, whose surface temperatures must be approximately twice as hot as the our Sun’s to be so bright in this wavelength of light.
NASA/Carruthers Geocorona Observatory

When Carruthers captured these images, the Moon was also in its field of view and slightly closer to the spacecraft than Earth was, making the Moon appear larger and closer to Earth than usual.

The specific wavelength Carruthers observed in two of the images, called Lyman-alpha, is light emitted by atomic hydrogen. The faint glow of Lyman-alpha from hydrogen in Earth’s outer atmosphere is called the “geocorona,” Latin for “Earth crown.”

In the broad-spectrum images, the Moon and Earth look similar: both are spheres with well-defined edges. However, in the Lyman-alpha filter, the Moon still appears as a crisp, sharp sphere while Earth appears surrounded by a bright “fuzz” extending out to space. This glow is the geocorona, the primary focus of the Carruthers mission. It is the only way to “see” Earth’s outermost atmospheric layer, although the light of the geocorona has only been photographed a handful of times in history. Carruthers will be the first mission to image it repeatedly, and from far enough away to see its great extent and discover how it changes over time.

These first images also offer a rare treat: sunlight reflected off the far side of the Moon, a view impossible to capture from Earth.
Original
Annotated

An interactive slider image allowing the user to swipe between two versions of an image, one with annotations and one without. The image shows a spacecraft’s view of Earth (at center) and the Moon (lower left) in ultraviolet light. The image includes a circular heatmap with a bright yellow center (Earth) fading to green and blue at the edges, showing Earth’s geocorona. A smaller bright spot appears near the bottom edge (the Moon). A vertical color bar labeled

An interactive slider image allowing the user to swipe between two versions of an image, one with annotations and one without. The image shows a spacecraft’s view of Earth (at center) and the Moon (lower left) in ultraviolet light. The image includes a circular heatmap with a bright yellow center (Earth) fading to green and blue at the edges, showing Earth’s geocorona. A smaller bright spot appears near the bottom edge (the Moon). A vertical color bar labeled

An interactive slider image allowing the user to swipe between two versions of an image, one with annotations and one without. The image shows a spacecraft’s view of Earth (at center) and the Moon (lower left) in ultraviolet light. The image includes a circular heatmap with a bright yellow center (Earth) fading to green and blue at the edges, showing Earth’s geocorona. A smaller bright spot appears near the bottom edge (the Moon). A vertical color bar labeled
An interactive slider image allowing the user to swipe between two versions of an image, one with annotations and one without. The image shows a spacecraft’s view of Earth (at center) and the Moon (lower left) in ultraviolet light. The image includes a circular heatmap with a bright yellow center (Earth) fading to green and blue at the edges, showing Earth’s geocorona. A smaller bright spot appears near the bottom edge (the Moon). A vertical color bar labeled

Original

Annotated

Carruthers Geocorona ObservatorY

A View of Earth’s Geocorona

Narrow Field Imager/Lyman-alpha filter


This view of the Earth, Moon, and Earth’s geocorona was captured by the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory’s Narrow Field Imager on Nov. 17, 2025. Move the slider to switch between the original version and one with overlaid annotations. In the annotated version, labels for Earth, the Moon, and Earth’s geocorona are overlaid on the image. The circle around Earth represents Earth’s surface, and the arc around Earth’s middle represents the orientation of Earth’s equator. The arrow pointing up and slightly to the left from Earth represents Earth’s rotational axis. The arrow pointing out to the right from Earth represents the direction to the Sun. The color scale indicates brightness, with brighter light appearing more yellow and dimmer light appearing more blue. The ‘glow’ that extends beyond Earth’s surface and out into space is Earth’s geocorona, which is emitted by hydrogen atoms in Earth’s exosphere in a wavelength of ultraviolet light known as Lyman-alpha.

These initial images were taken with short, five-minute exposures — just long enough to confirm that the instrument is performing well. During the main science phase, Carruthers will take 30-minute exposures, allowing it to reveal even fainter details of the geocorona and trace how Earth’s outer atmosphere responds to the changing Sun.

Carruthers launched on Sept. 24 and is just a few weeks from completing its journey to the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1, a point of gravitational balance roughly 1 million miles closer to the Sun than Earth is. Carruthers will begin its primary science phase in March 2026, when it will begin sending back a steady stream of ultraviolet portraits of our planet’s ever-shifting outer atmosphere.

By Miles Hatfield
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

About the Author

Miles Hatfield

Miles Hatfield

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