nasawebb Pack your bags for a trip to the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex

Our journey begins with a ground-based image by astrophotographer Akira Fujii, then transitions into a plate from the Digitized Sky Survey. Next a two-color image from the now-retired infrared Spitzer Space Telescope appears, and then finally the video arrives at the James Webb Space Telescope’s image of the star-forming region.

Video Description:
A slow, swirling zoom-in, first on a cluster of blue dots in a field of glittering stars. Then the scene changes to glowing blue-white dots amidst dusty brown regions. Video continues to zoom on one particular area within the dust, which gradually takes on the shape of a pale inverted triangle. Finally, the region becomes Webb's image of Rho Ophiuchi. Red dual opposing jets coming from young stars fill the darker, purple top half of the image. At bottom center is a glowing pale yellow, cave-like structure, its top tilted toward two o’clock, with a bright star at its center.

Animation: NASA, ESA, CSA, Alyssa Pagan (STScI). Acknowledgement: IPAC, Caltech, Akira Fujii DSS.

Music: "Celestial Reverie," Zinovia Arvanitidi, Universal Production Music.