#278 Rhythms

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The first anniversary image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope displays star birth like it’s never been seen before, full of detailed, impressionistic texture. The subject is the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth. It is a relatively small, quiet stellar nursery, but you’d never know it from Webb’s chaotic close-up. Jets bursting from young stars crisscross the image, impacting the surrounding interstellar gas and lighting up molecular hydrogen, shown in red. Some stars display the telltale shadow of a circumstellar disk, the makings of future planetary systems.

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (STScI)

We’re all on the lookout for nature’s patterns. The most obvious are solar rhythms — like the recent solstice. Civilizations all paid attention to solar patterns because their food production depended on it. Next in line were the Moon’s rhythms, mostly that its phases repeat every 29.5 days. This week we cover the rhythms of the universe!