Supersonic Jets Ejected from Young Stars Spied with New Sky Survey

Astronomers have long known that young protostars eject supersonic jets of gas from their north and south poles. Now, though, researchers have detected more than ever before--all at the same time. The new findings could reveal a bit more about the evolution of stars in our universe.

The findings come after a five year survey taken with the help of the UK Infra-Red Telescope. The survey is expected to give scientists needed data in order to learn about the planetary nebulae population in the Milky Way galaxy in addition to finding out about the properties of jets ejected from young, forming stars.

The scientists peered through the dust and gas in the Milky Way in order to observe more distant targets. The entire survey itself covered approximately 1,450 times the size of the full moon, which is the equivalent of a 95 GigaPixel image. This revealed jets from protostars and planetary nebulae along with supernova remnants, the illuminated edges of vast clouds of gas and dust, and the warm regions that envelope massive stars and their associated clusters of smaller stars.

"These discoveries are very exciting," said Dirk Froebrich, one of the researchers, in a news release. "We will ultimately have much better statistics, meaning we will be able to investigate the physical mechanisms that determine the jet lengths, as well as their power. This will bring us much closer to answering some of the fundamental questions of star formation: How are these jets launched and how much energy, mass and momentum do they feed back into the surrounding interstellar medium."

In fact, the researchers were able to identify about 1000 unique jets from young stars. By identifying these jets, scientists can learn a bit more about them which could, in turn, inform future studies on star evolution.