HH 211: Jets from a Forming Star
Jets from a Forming Star



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2023 September 19 
 
 




 HH 211: Jets from a Forming Star   
 Credit:  
NASA, 
ESA, 
CSA, 
Webb;
Processing: 
Tom Ray 
(DIAS Dublin)
  

 Explanation:  
Do 
stars always create jets as they form?

No one is sure.

As a gas cloud 
gravitationally contracts, 
it forms a disk 
that can spin too fast to continue contracting into a 
protostar. 

Theorists 
hypothesize that this spin can be reduced by expelling jets.

This speculation coincides with known 
Herbig-Haro (HH) objects, young stellar objects seen to emit jets -- 
sometimes in 
spectacular fashion.

Pictured is Herbig-Haro 211, a young star in formation 
recently imaged by the 
Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in 
infrared light and in 
great detail. 

Along with the 
two narrow beams of particles, red 
shock waves can be seen as the outflows impact 
existing interstellar gas.

The jets of 
HH 211 will 
likely change shape as they brighten and fade 
over the next 100,000 years, as research into the details of 
star formation continues. 


 
 Tomorrow's picture: another star's planet 


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