Here is Webb's view of the Digel Clouds, a star formation region at the ‘outer limits’ of the Milky Way. ✨

Webb's sensitive infrared sensors have revealed the activity of star clusters within these molecular clouds in more detail than ever before.

Astronomers call Digel Clouds 1 and 2, located 58,000 light years from the Galactic Centre, the ‘Extreme Outer Galaxy’ (for comparison, we are 26,000 light years from the centre of the Milky Way). Webb's observations allow scientists to study star formation in this distant region in as much detail as in our solar system.

Image description:

A compact star cluster of bright red, blue and white points of light is seen in the right centre. Faint jets of clumpy, dispersed material extend in various directions from the bright cluster. Above and to the right is a smaller star cluster. Patches of translucent red material extend across the scene, although there are spots and a visible void in the upper left corner, revealing the black background of space. The galaxies in the background are scattered in this vacuum of space, appearing as small blue-white and orange-white dots or blurry, thin discs. Two prominent large dots with diffraction spikes are foreground stars: an orange-white dot on the left and a blue-white dot in the upper right.

 

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Michael Ressler (NASA-JPL)