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Space

James Webb captures a beautiful smattering of blue stars

The striking blue stars of the Leo P dwarf galaxy appear dashed across the lower right corner of this image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope

22 January 2025

Caption This image from NASA?s James Webb Space Telescope shows a portion of the Leo P dwarf galaxy (stars at lower right represented in blue). Leo P is a star-forming galaxy located about 5 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. A team of scientists collected data from about 15,000 stars in Leo P to deduce its star formation history. They determined that it went through three phases: an initial burst of star formation, a ?pause? that lasted several billion years, and then a new round of star formation that is still continuing. The image from Webb?s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) combines infrared light at wavelengths of 0.9 microns (represented in blue), 1.5 microns (green), and 2.77 microns (red). The stars in Leo P appear blue in comparison to the background galaxies for several reasons. Young, massive stars that are common in star-forming galaxies are predominantly blue. Leo P also is extremely lacking in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, and the resulting ?metal-poor? stars tend to be bluer than Sun-like stars. A bubble-like structure at bottom center is a region of ionized hydrogen surrounding a hot, massive O-type star. Credits Image NASA, ESA, CSA, Kristen McQuinn (STScI) Image Processing Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

NASA, ESA, CSA, Kristen McQuinn (STScI)

NASA鈥檚 James Webb Space Telescope has captured a聽sprinkling of stars in the Leo P dwarf galaxy, located about 5 million light years away in the constellation Leo. Their blue appearance shows that the galaxy is still forming new stars, because younger stars tend to shine bluer than ones like our sun.

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