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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

JWST spots key carbon molecule

JWST spots key carbon molecule
JWST spots key carbon molecule These JWST images show a part of the Orion Nebula known as the Orion Bar. At the upper right, the telescope is focused on a smaller area using MIRI, the Mid-Infrared Instrument. At the very center of the MIRI image is a young star system with a planet-forming disk named d203-506. The pullout at the bottom right displays a combined MIRI and NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) image of this young system. An international team of astronomers detected a new carbon molecule known as methyl cation for the first time in d203-506. The finding is significant because life as we know it requires complex, carbon-containing molecules. ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), PDRs4ALL ERS Team