ESA released an infrared Webb image on 22 October showing the N159 stellar nursery in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Across a scene about 230 light-years wide, selected colours distinguish ionized hydrogen, carbon-bearing molecules and cooler molecular gas. Dense filaments still shelter developing stars as nearby massive stars reshape the surrounding clouds.
The European Space Agency released a view of N159 on 22 October, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, an active stellar nursery in the Large Magellanic Cloud. That galaxy is a satellite of the Milky Way. The pictured area lies around 161,000 light-years from Earth and spans roughly 230 light-years. Webb’s near-infrared camera distinguishes gas structures and embedded young stars that can be obscured in visible-light observations.[1]
Pale blue traces hydrogen ionized by ultraviolet radiation from hot, massive stars. Light orange represents emission from carbon-bearing molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Dark red marks cooler molecular hydrogen. These colours encode selected infrared signals rather than an unaided-eye view. Dense filaments and small gas pillars shelter stars still forming inside them, while radiation and stellar winds from young massive stars erode the surrounding material.[1]
The compact Papillon Nebula on the left was first resolved by Hubble in 1999, and Hubble imaged eastern and western parts of the wider cloud in 2025. Star formation in N159 began under three million years ago. Compared with the Milky Way, a smaller share of its host galaxy consists of elements above helium in mass. The difference offers another environment for studying how stars form. Webb gathered the observations in a programme comparing stellar stages; the 22 October release presents an image from those observations.[1]
