James Webb Space Telescope: a giant celestial question mark has been spotted in deep space

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured an image with one strange cosmic object shaped like a question mark sitting in the background. 

The star system, which is located around 1,470 light-years away and called Herbig-Haro 46/47, was captured by Webb's infrared cameras. 

The image reveals two young stars in the Vela Constellation pulled to each other by gravity as they spin. But at the bottom centre of the image, there is a small object that is shaped like a question mark. 

It is unclear what the celestial object may be. "It is probably a distant galaxy, or potentially interacting galaxies (their interactions may have caused the distorted question mark-shape)," representatives of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, which manages JWST's science operations, told Space.com. 

According to STScI, the object's red colour in the JWST image tells scientists that the object, whatever it may be, is quite distant. Even more exciting, this might be the first time astronomers have seen the cosmic question mark. 

"This may be the first time we've seen this particular object," STScI added. "Additional follow-up would be required to figure out what it is with any certainty. Webb is showing us many new, distant galaxies — so there's a lot of new science to be done!"

Matt Caplan, an assistant professor of physics at Illinois State University, told the site that the object might be two galaxies merging. "The two distinct features could easily be merging galaxies in the background, with the upper part of the question mark being part of a larger galaxy getting tidally disrupted," Caplan said. "Given the colour of some of the other background galaxies, this doesn't seem like the worst explanation. Despite how chaotic mergers are, double-lobed objects with curvy tails extending away from them are very typical." 

He said there are other possibilities the object can be, but he rules out a star as it lacks eight-pronged refraction spikes that appear to emanate outward from stars in JWST's images as a result of its mirrors.

The image itself also bears some importance. It reveals the stars as buried deeply, appearing as an orange-white splotch, surrounded by a disk of gas and dust that continued to add to their mass.

“Herbig-Haro 46/47 is an important object to study because it is relatively young – only a few thousand years old,” Nasa noted in a statement.

As stars take millions of years to form, researchers said the young ones spotted in the image can give astronomers more insight into how stars gather mass over time.

“Over millions of years, the stars in Herbig-Haro 46/47 will fully form – clearing the scene,” NASA said.

Understanding the evolution of this pair of stars could help model how our own Sun, a low-mass star, formed, scientists said.