NASA's James Webb Space Telescope snaps the astonishing NGC 346 star birthing region

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Star formation is not only a mysterious process, but also an awe-inspiring occurrence. And now, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has taken an image of the star forming region called NGC 346. The mission is to know more about the star formation process in the early universe. Notably, NGC 346 is one of the most dynamic star-forming regions in nearby galaxies and it is full of secrets. However, this James Webb Telescope image has made it less mysterious.

"What was star formation like in the early universe? One way to study conditions in the distant past is to find parallels close by. That's why Webb took a look at star-forming region NGC 346 within our neighboring dwarf galaxy: https://go.nasa.gov/3CFXiJo #AAS241," NASA Webb Telescope tweeted.

According to NASA, NCG 346 is located in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a dwarf galaxy close to our Milky Way. The SMC contains lower concentrations of elements heavier than hydrogen or helium, which astronomers call metals, compared to the Milky Way. Since dust grains in space are composed mostly of metals, scientists expected there would be low amounts of dust, and that it would be hard to detect. However, new data from Webb reveals the opposite.

Astronomers probed this region because the conditions and amount of metals within the SMC resemble those seen in galaxies billions of years ago, during an era in the universe known as “cosmic noon,” when star formation was at its peak. Some 2 to 3 billion years after the big bang, galaxies were forming stars at a furious rate. The fireworks of star formation happening then still shape the galaxies we see around us today, the space research organisation stated in a report.

“A galaxy during cosmic noon wouldn't have one NGC 346 like the Small