A newborn star in our cosmic backyard is being circled by an unusual, cat-like tail of gas and dust, new images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) reveal. And the strange structure is proving to be very hard to explain, new research shows.
The star, named Beta Pictoris, is a young, sun-like star located around 63 light-years from the solar system, making it one of our closest neighbors. (The closest star to the sun, Proxima Centauri, is just 4 light-years away, for comparison). It was first discovered in 1984 and has been heavily studied ever since. Past observations have revealed that Beta Pictoris is less than 20 million years old, which is very young for a star.
