Stunning new James Webb Space Telescope images reveal 'hidden' stars being born

Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to study the star-forming region called W51, revealing "hidden" stars that were invisible to other telescopes.

This is far from the first time that astronomers have captured images of W51, but the JWST observations reveal these young stars like never before. That is because these still-growing stellar infants are shrouded in natal blankets of gas and dust that readily block and absorb light, preventing most telescopes from seeing them. But infrared light is able to slip through these clouds, and that is the type of electromagnetic radiation that the JWST uses to observe the cosmos.

Aside from their considerable aesthetic value, the images are of great scientific interest too. They could help researchers determine how massive stars like those that populate W51 form. The formation mechanism of high-mass stars is much less well understood than that of low-mass stellar bodies.