00:01Enshrouded deep within a gaseous cloud, the once hidden features of this young and elusive protostar have been revealed by
00:07the James Webb Space Telescope.
00:09Protostars like these that are still cocooned in a dark cloud of dust and gas have a long way to
00:14go before they become full-fledged stars.
00:16At only about 100,000 years old, it is at the earliest stage of star formation and doesn't yet generate
00:22its own energy through nuclear fusion of hydrogen.
00:25Its shape, while mostly spherical, is also unstable, taking the form of a small, hot, and puffy cloud of gas,
00:32somewhere between 20 and 40 percent the mass of our own sun.
00:36Its signature hourglass shape has helped to provide insight into the beginnings of a new star at the precipice of
00:42a long and dynamic life ahead.
00:44The region's most prevalent features, the vibrant blue and orange clouds, in this representative-color infrared image,
00:51outlined cavities created as material shoots away from the 2b star and collides with surrounding matter.
00:58These blazing clouds within the torus star-forming region are only visible in infrared light, making it an ideal target
01:05for two of Webb's powerful scientific instruments,
01:07the near-infrared camera and the mid-infrared instrument.
01:10The colors themselves are due to layers of dust between Webb and the clouds.
01:14Blue areas show where the dust is thinnest. The thicker the layer of dust, the less blue light is able
01:20to escape, creating rich pockets of orange.
01:23As it continues to gather mass, its core gradually compresses and gets closer to stable nuclear fusion.
01:30The surrounding molecular cloud is made up of dense layers of dust and gas being drawn to the center, where
01:36the protostar resides.
01:37As the material falls in, it spirals around the center. This creates a dense disk of material, known as an
01:44accretion disk, which feeds material to the protostar.
01:48As it gains more mass and compresses further, the temperature of its core will rise, eventually reaching the threshold for
01:55nuclear fusion to begin.
01:57Webb also reveals filaments of molecular hydrogen that have been shocked as the protostar ejects material away from it.
02:03Shocks and turbulence inhibit the formation of new stars, which would otherwise form all throughout the cloud.
02:10As a result, the protostar dominates the space, taking much of the material for itself.
02:23You
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