James Webb Space Telescope Feed Post

NASA’s Webb Reveals Long-Studied Star Is Actually Twins

Twin win: Webb discovered that WL 20S, long thought to be a star, is actually a pair of stars! This image of the WL 20 star group combines data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array and the Mid-Infrared Instrument on NASA’s Webb telescope. Gas jets emanating from the poles of twin stars appear blue and green; disks of dust and gas surrounding the stars are pink. Image Credit: U.S. NSF; NSF NRAO; ALMA; NASA/JPL-Caltech; B. Saxton Read more: go.nasa.gov/3VPCitD Image Description: On a black background are bluish-green, rod-like structures to the right side of the image, representing gas jets emanating from a pair of stars. The structures have a watercolor-like texture. These are labeled as “Jets” using small white text in a purple box, with lines extending from the label pointing toward one larger, more green-ish structure and a smaller, more blue-ish structure to its left. Two pink, glowing bands horizontally cross both structures, labeled as “Disks.” These are disks of dust and gas surrounding the stars. Image & Description by NASA