The infrared technology of the telescope, launched in December 2021, allowed an even clearer view of the so-called Ghost Galaxy than astronomers had seen before.
“Webb’s sharp vision revealed delicate filaments of gas and dust in large spiral arms that snake outward from the center of this image,” NASA and ESA said on Monday.
“A lack of gas in the core region also provides a clearer view of the nuclear star cluster at the center of the galaxy,” the agencies said in a statement.
The swirling celestial shape, officially named M74, is in the constellation Pisces 32 million light-years from Earth.
The Webb telescope image shows the galaxy’s bright white, red, pink, and light blue appendages swirling around a bright blue center against the backdrop of dark deep space.
M74 was previously imaged by the Hubble telescope, which captured the galaxy’s blue and pink spiral arms, but its center looked faintly yellow.
The Ghost Galaxy is a “favorite target for astronomers studying the origin and structure of galactic spirals,” NASA and ESA said.
The image taken by Webb will help “learn more about the early stages of star formation in the local Universe” and record more information about 19 star-forming galaxies near our Milky Way, the agencies said.
The image will be used by astronomers to “locate star-forming regions in galaxies, accurately measure the masses and ages of star clusters, and obtain information about the nature of the small dust grains that roam interstellar space,” says the report. release.
Webb’s new images have scientists excited, as the telescope orbits the Sun at a distance of one million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth.
The entrance Webb telescope captures new details of the Ghost Galaxy was first published in diary TODAY.
