Who has never looked at the clouds and seen the shape of an animal or object? This is one of the most common games around the world: interpreting what the heavens have to tell us.
Now, this joke has gotten a little more serious, as the ESA (European Space Agency) has released an image of two new stars and, together, they look like a question mark.
In a fascinating development for space exploration, the renowned James Webb telescope, launched just over a year and a half ago, surprised the scientific community by spotting a truly enigmatic cosmic object in the vast universe.
Astronomers and space experts were stunned to identify a celestial body that strangely resembles a giant question mark floating in deep space.
See the question mark in space detected by James Webb
Image: NASA; ESA; CSA/Reproduction
The European Space Agency (ESA) has released a detailed image of two young stars in formation, called Herbig-Haro 46/47, located 1,470 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Vela. In addition to the stars, the image showed an intriguing object beneath them, resembling a giant cosmic question mark.
Experts from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) suggest that the object could be a distant galaxy or, possibly, interactive galaxies. The interaction between them could have caused its distorted shape. Furthermore, the red color highlighted in the image suggests that the object is quite far away.
The curious event caught the attention of the scientific community and those interested in astronomy matters. This is the first time that stars forming a signal have been recorded.
Learn more about the James Webb Telescope
The James Webb Telescope (JWST) is a space observatory developed by NASA, ESA and CSA. Equipped with a 6.5 meter mirror, it operates in the infrared spectrum and is intended to replace Hubble.
Its launch took place in December 2021 and it is located approximately 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. This distance allows for precise and sensitive observations to study the formation of stars, galaxies and exoplanets, in addition to searching for signs of life on other planets.
