How are planets formed? The James Webb Space Telescope, in conjunction with the Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the Atacama Desert of Chile, has found new clues in the Herbig-Haro 30 (HH 30) protoplanetary system.
Images captured by James Webb show several characteristics of the HH 30 system. The jets of particles are portrayed in red as they are expelled vertically, with a dark, dust-filled disk at the center blocking the light from the still-forming star. Dust reflecting blue appears in a parabolic shape above and below the central disk, and the reason for the tail appearing in the lower left remains unclear for now.
Astronomers hope to understand how planets are formed in HH 30 to gain insights into the formation of planets in our solar system. It is expected that the observational data from HH 30 will also broaden understanding of the formation process of Earth.
Astronomers will be able to deepen their understanding of how the planets in our solar system were formed, including how Earth was formed.