NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has imaged a 3.5-light-year cavity in NGC 7129, showing how a developing star’s outflows and light affect gas in a nursery 3,300 light-years from Earth.
NASA released the image Oct. 6 and featured it again Oct. 20. Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera observed the region on Dec. 17, 2025. Its infrared view reveals young stars amid the dust and records the gas around them.
Near the center is LkH(alpha) 234. NASA estimates the star has five to eight times the Sun’s mass and says it has not yet begun sustained hydrogen fusion. A broad, golden cavity lies to its left in the image.
NASA traces that roughly 3.5-light-year hollow to material LkH(alpha) 234 expelled earlier in its development. Earlier outflows carved into the gas cloud, while light from stars within the cavity heats the material. Together, they produce the glow Webb recorded.
Younger protostars occupy a red region to the right. Material flowing from them strikes surrounding gas and produces shocks. The view places those interactions alongside the larger cavity associated with LkH(alpha) 234, showing activity around stars at different stages of formation.
The image’s red and gold colors represent infrared measurements, not colors a human eye would see. NASA also compared Webb’s view with an image taken by its Spitzer Space Telescope in 2004. Webb shows finer structures in the gas and faint galaxies behind the star-forming region.
Researchers plan further analysis of the Webb observations to examine how the young stars affect nearby gas and dust.
