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                           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.   
      
                                 2022 November 18   
      
                            The Protostar within L1527   
               Image Credit: Science - NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, NIRCam   
        Processing - Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI),   
                               Alyssa Pagan (STScI)   
      
      Explanation: The protostar within dark cloud L1527 is a mere 100,000   
      years old, still embedded in the cloud of gas and dust that feeds its   
      growth. In this NIRCam image from the James Webb Space Telescope, the   
      dark band at the neck of the infrared nebula is a thick disk that   
      surrounds the young stellar object. Viewed nearly edge-on and a little   
      larger than our Solar System, the disk ultimately supplies material to   
      the protostar while hiding it from Webb's direct infrared view. The   
      nebula itself is seen in stunning detail though. Illuminated by   
      infrared light from the protostar, the hourglass-shaped nebula's   
      cavities are created as material ejected in the star-forming process   
      plows through the surrounding medium. As the protostar gains mass it   
      will eventually become a full-fledged star, collapsing and igniting   
      nuclear fusion in its core. A likely analog to our own Sun and Solar   
      System in their early infancy, the protostar within dark cloud L1527   
      lies some 460 light-years distant in the Taurus star-forming region.   
      Webb's NIRCam image spans about 0.3 light-years.   
      
                           Tomorrow's picture: moonshot   
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          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
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