Massive Stellar Jet in Sh2-284

At the outer edges of our Milky Way, the Webb Telescope captured a massive jet of plasma streaming from a newly formed star in the proto-cluster Sh2-284. Spanning about 8 light-years, roughly twice the distance from the Sun to Alpha Centauri, this Herbig-Haro object is among the largest known stellar jets. Its size suggests that jet length increases with the mass of the star that produces it.

The young star at its center is about ten times more massive than our Sun. As it gathers gas, magnetic forces funnel part of that material outward along the star’s poles, creating twin jets that race through space at hundreds of thousands of miles per hour.

Webb’s infrared view reveals intricate filaments and bright shock fronts where the jet collides with surrounding gas and dust. Situated far from the galactic center in a region poor in heavy elements, this system offers a glimpse into how the earliest stars in the universe may have formed.