Webb Spots ‘Cosmic Tornado’ in Stunning Detail

Webb has imaged phantasmal billows of bright orange space gas, captured in vibrant detail 630 light-years from Earth.

This is the dazzling power of the Webb Space Telescope on full display, revealing the protostellar outflow Herbig Haro 49/50 (or HH 49/50) from the telescope’s perch in space, about one million miles from Earth.

Herbig-Haro objects are outflows of material produced by a star’s jets. The large outflows move through material, creating shock waves in space that heat the material; as the material cools, it produces light—revealing objects like the glowing orange outflow above.

HH 49/50 was dubbed the Cosmic Tornado in 2006, when it was discovered by scientists using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Webb has better resolution than Spitzer, giving scientists a more precise view of the outflow’s features. Furthermore, the object at the tip of the outflow—seen by Spitzer as a blue splotch—is now clearly visible, allowing scientists to identify it as a spiral galaxy.

Webb’s image of HH 49/50 made use of the telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCAM) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to reveal the distribution of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and energized dust grains in the outflow. The data will eventually help scientists model the jet’s properties, as well as how it affects surrounding material.

Scientists believe that a protostar named Cederblad 110 IRS4, located about 1.5 light-years from HH 49/50, may drive the jets that are energizing the material in the object.

The galaxy seen at the tip of HH 49/50 is much more distant; eventually, HH 49/50 will appear to cover up the galaxy, though according to an ESA release that overlap will take thousands of years.

Other Herbig-Haro objects are worth noting. Consider HH 46/47, which looks just like a question mark floating in space. HH 49/50 isn’t even the Webb Space Telescope’s first foray into the objects; in 2023, the telescope captured the very elongated jets of HH 211, about 1,000 light-years from Earth.