A new James Webb image shows part of the molecular cloud OMC-2 in the constellation Orion, 1,280 light-years from Earth. This cloud hides directly behind the famous Orion Nebula (M42) and is invisible in optical light — dense gas and dust block everything. Only in the infrared, where Webb operates, do protostars begin to shine through their dusty cocoons.
Within just 150 light-years, every stage of star formation is present: from the earliest "stellar embryos" still completely hidden in dust, through protostars with protoplanetary discs, to young stars that have already cleared their surrounding clouds and now illuminate them.
Intense star-forming activity has created a spectacular scene. Protostars launch powerful gas jets from their poles that slam into the surrounding dense material, forming shockwaves — the bright red ridges in the image. Dark clumps are cold dust so dense it absorbs even infrared light. The yellow-green glow comes from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), while the blue haze is scattered starlight.
The data was collected with NIRCam as part of observing programme #5804, aimed at studying star formation in OMC-2 and its neighbour OMC-3. Their proximity makes these clouds ideal laboratories for studying the earliest stages of stellar evolution, how jets affect further star formation, and how ultraviolet radiation shapes the protoplanetary discs that will one day form planets.