A Cosmic Tornado
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Day 10 of the 2025 Space Telescope Advent Calendar: A Cosmic Tornado. The James Webb Space Telescope captured this image of Herbig-Haro 49/50, about 630 light-years from Earth. Energetic jets from a nearby newly-forming star are plowing into a region of dense gas and dust, heating it up and creating an almost tornado-like shape in the night sky. The object visible at the “tip” of the tornado is actually a much more distant spiral galaxy, unrelated to the closer Herbig-Haro object.
See the full advent calendar here, where a new image will be revealed each day until December 25.