Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2024

18 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2024 ASTRO PUBLISHING NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) to image select regions within two mo- lecular clouds known as Digel Clouds 1 and 2. With its high degree of sen- sitivity and sharp resolution, the Webb data resolved these areas, which are hosts to star clusters un- dergoing bursts of star formation, in unprecedented detail. Details of this data include components of the clusters such as very young (Class 0) protostars, outflows and jets, and distinctive nebular structures. These Webb observations, which came from telescope time allocated to Mike Ressler of NASA’s Jet Propul- sion Laboratory in California, are en- abling scientists to study star for- mation in the outer Milky Way in the same depth of detail as observa- tions of star formation in our own Webb peers into the outskirts of our Milky Way galaxy A stronomers have directed NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to examine the outskirts of our Milky Way galaxy. Scientists call this region the Ex- treme Outer Galaxy due to its loca- tion more than 58,000 light-years away from the Galactic Center. (For comparison, Earth is approximately 26,000 light-years from the center.) A team of scientists used Webb’s by NASA/ESA/CSA Abigail Major Christine Pulliam