The aligned protostellar outflows in the Serpens Nebula support the theory that clusters of forming stars spin in the same direction, as evidenced by the elongated structures shooting out from swirling disks of material.
The bright streaks resembling lens flare in the image's upper-left area are shockwaves from jets emerging when interstellar gas clouds collapse inward, with material shooting out perpendicular to the disk during star formation.
The Serpens Nebula's young age, only one to two million years old, and the presence of stars less than 100,000 years old in its dense protostar cluster highlight the ongoing star formation process within reflection nebulae.
NASA's next step involves using the JWST's Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) to analyze the chemical composition of the Serpens Nebula, following the initial image capture by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam).
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