Chamaeleon I Dark Molecular Cloud - click me for full image
The team have managed to identify a number of materials ranging from simple ices like water to carbonyl (double carbon atoms bonded to a oxygen atom), sulfide, amonia and some simple complex organic molecules like methanol. In this current icy cold form they are disparate and tend to just float around, but it is believed they will begin to clump to together to form tiny pebbles that will eventually grow in size and begin to accumulate more stellar material around them as its begins to generate its own gravity.The team has been using light from stars positioned behind the cloud which allowed the telescopes NIRCam(Near-Infrared Camera) to take images of the far away cloud. In the image included with this article the closest source of light that was used is from the protostar named Ced 110 IRS 4 which is the bright orange one to the upper left.
The research has unveiled that cloud contains a lot of the key elements for the formation of future planets which is more likey to happen during the formation of future young stars which would heat these icy cold elements and melt the frozen ice into water vapour, which is one of the key ingredients for the formation of complex organic structures even the possibility of life.
The James Webb Telescope is one of our greatest achievements to date, having produced some stellar (see what I did there?) images of galaxies unfathomably far away. It really is humbling when you realise how small our slice of the universe is compared to the wonders that could exist out there.
What do you think of the latest images from the James Webb Telescope? Let us know below!
WRITTEN & EDITED BY Solace
IMAGES SOURCED FROM NASA.GOV - Space.com - NASA James Webb Image
