                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2025 February 19
    A dark field has a single, colorful, blurry structure in its center.
    Red-colored jets extend out from the center toward the top and bottom
    of the frame. A dark disk covers the center. Blue outflows appear on
     both sides of the horizontal disk. To the lower left, a larger blue
        outflow extends. Please see the explanation for more detailed
                                information.

                HH 30: A Star System with Planets Now Forming
   Image Credit: James Webb Space Telescope, ESA, NASA & CSA, R. Tazaki et
                                     al.

   Explanation: How do stars and planets form? New clues have been found
   in the protoplanetary system Herbig-Haro 30 by the James Webb Space
   Telescope in concert with Hubble and the Earth-bound ALMA. The
   observations show, among other things, that large dust grains are more
   concentrated into a central disk where they can form planets. The
   featured image from Webb shows many attributes of the active HH-30
   system. Jets of particles are being expelled vertically, shown in red,
   while a dark dust-rich disk is seen across the center, blocking the
   light from the star or stars still forming there. Blue-reflecting dust
   is seen in a parabolic arc above and below the central disk, although
   why a tail appears on the lower left is currently unknown. Studying how
   planets form in HH 30 can help astronomers better understand how
   planets in our own Solar System once formed, including our Earth.

                           Tomorrow's picture: M87
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

