It’s very hard to see a star being born. Much of the protostar’s formation process and details are hidden from prying eyes in a thick blanket of dust. Usually, stars are forged in dark nebulae, whose higher concentration of matter makes them more opaque.

Fortunately, the infrared band provides a slit to peek through, and this, along with the extraordinary monitoring power of the NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) James Webb Space Telescope, has enabled the Webb to capture this spectacular image of the dark cloud L1527, revealing details never seen before.

The structure is rather reminiscent of an hourglass. The protostar is hidden in the slender neck of the hourglass. The bright plumes above and below that neck are essentially jets of material propelled by the star colliding with surrounding matter.

L1527 is only about 100,000 years old. Due to its age and characteristics, L1527 is considered a class 0 protostar, i.e. in the earliest stage of star formation.

Protostars like this one, still shrouded in a dark veil of dust and gas, have a long way to go before they become full-fledged stars.

(Image: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI. Image processing: J. DePasquale, A. Pagan, and A. Koekemoer (STScI))

L1527 does not yet generate its own electricity through nuclear fusion of hydrogen. But as the protostar builds up mass, the core gradually compresses, the temperature rises, and the star gets closer and closer to the activation of stable nuclear fusion. (Font style: NCYT from Amazings)