Spectacular New Images From The Webb Telescope Show Galaxy Collision 270 Million Light-Years Away

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This image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope depicts IC 1623, an entwined pair of … [+] interacting galaxies which lies around 270 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Cetus. The two galaxies in IC 1623 are plunging headlong into one another in a process known as a galaxy merger. Their collision has ignited a frenzied spate of star formation known as a starburst, creating new stars at a rate more than twenty times that of the Milky Way galaxy. This interacting galaxy system is particularly bright at infrared wavelengths, making it a perfect proving ground for Webb’s ability to study luminous galaxies. A team of astronomers captured IC 1623 across the infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum using a trio of Webb’s cutting-edge scientific instruments: MIRI, NIRSpec, and NIRCam. In so doing, they provided an abundance of data that will allow the astronomical community at large to fully explore how Webb’s unprecedented capabilities will help to unravel the complex interactions in galactic ecosystems. These observations are also accompanied by data from other observatories, including the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and will help set the stage for future observations of galactic systems with Webb. The merger of these two galaxies has long been of interest to astronomers, and has previously been imaged by Hubble and by other space telescopes. The ongoing, extreme starburst causes intense infrared emission, and the merging galaxies may well be in the process of forming a supermassive black hole. A thick band of dust has blocked these valuable insights from the view of telescopes like Hubble. However, Webb’s infrared sensitivity and its impressive resolution at those wavelengths allows it to see past the dust and has resulted in the spectacular image above, a combination of MIRI and NIRCam imagery. The luminous core of the galaxy merger turns out to be both very bright and highly compact, so much so that Webb’s diffraction spik

ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, L. Armus &

The $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) continues to deliver wondrous images of the deep sky.

Just days after its epic “Pillars of Creation” mega-image and others of some bizarre “smoke rings” around two massive stars, NASA has released its latest stunning observation, a pair of galaxies in a cosmic collision.

The image is of IC 1623, an entwined pair of interacting galaxies about 70 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cetus “the whale.”

The main image, above, is created using data captured using JWST’s NIRCam instrument, which is able to sense ultra-faint infrared light, which IC 1623—like most distant galaxies—shines brightly in.

The image features six-pointed spikes—just like a snowflake. Here’s why.

Here, the Webb Picture of the Month of merging galaxies IC 1623 A and B is juxtaposed with a new … [+] image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. In the Webb MIRI image, the bright core, heated gas and dust, and young star forming regions are all visible. The Hubble and Webb NIRCAM images show the galaxies distorted spiral arms, while MIRI reveals the faint ghostly glow of interstellar dust. [Image description: The image consists of three panels, each depicting the two merging galaxies on a dark background. The left panel is labelled “Optical Hubble/WFC3 & ACS”, the middle “Near-infrared Webb/NIRCam” and the right “Mid-infrared Webb/MIRI”. In the MIRI image, only the bright core, heated gas and bubbles of star formation are visible. The other two images also show the galaxies’ spiral arms.]

ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, L. Armus &

Infrared light is very old, long-wave light that can’t be detected on Earth nor by other space telescopes. While Hubble deals in ultraviolet and visible wavelengths of light, JWST is equipped to detect longer infrared wavelengths at an unprecedented resolution.

However, the collision of these two galaxies isn’t an end, but a beginning. Galaxy mergers such as IC 1623 ignite a starburst—the creation of stars 20 times faster than what currently happens in our Milky Way galaxy.

As well as merging JWST’s brand new data with that of Hubble’s previous observations—thus adding visible light—astronomers also captured IC 1623 using the young space telescope’s other instruments, MIRI (which sees in the mid-infrared) and NIRSpec (which splits the light from an object into spectrum).

In the wake of its first incredible images last summer JWST has been busy, capturing the colorful Cartwheel Galaxy, one of the earliest-ever stars called “Earendel” and planetary views including a jaw-dropping Jupiter and the rings of Uranus.

Observing the cosmos from about a million miles from Earth, Webb is the most ambitious and complex space science telescope ever constructed, with a massive 6.5-meter primary mirror that will be able to detect the faint light of far-away stars and galaxies. It’s designed to detect infrared light emitted by distant stars, planets and clouds of gas and dust.

During its initial 10-year mission JWST will study the solar system, directly image exoplanets, photograph the first galaxies and explore the mysteries of the origins of the Universe.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.

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