Each image is a spectacle for our eyes and an opportunity to learn more about another portion of our cosmos. In less than a month that he has been carrying out scientific operations, he continues to surprise us with his vision of the universe at every step he takes.
Another display of the power of the space observatory
The James Webb Space Telescope has aimed its infrared instruments at the strange galaxy known as the Cartwheel, its black hole at the center of the galaxy, and two smaller companion galaxies against a backdrop of many other galaxies.
Located in the constellation Sculptor, 500 million light-years away from us , it looks very much like a cartwheel, hence its name, and is caused by a high-speed collision between a large spiral galaxy and a smaller galaxy (not seen in this image). It’s a massive galactic merger. The result of this collision is the expanding rings.
According to NASA, “The Cartwheel Galaxy has two rings : a bright inner ring and a colorful ring that surrounds it. These two rings expand outward from the center of the collision, like ripples in a pond after a stone is thrown.” This type of “ring galaxy”, with its unique features, is much rarer than spiral galaxies like the Milky Way.
Scientists believe that the outer ring has been expanding and causing star formation for about 440 million years. However, the date of the collision is highly uncertain.
Comparison between James Webb and Hubble
On the left, the new photograph by James Webb, on the right, the one from the Hubble telescope.
The Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), Webb’s primary imager, peers into the near infrared range from 0.6 to 5 microns, seeing crucial wavelengths of light that can reveal even more stars than seen on Earth. visible light. This is because young stars, many of which are forming in the outer ring, are less obscured by the presence of dust when viewed in infrared light. In this image, the NIRCam data is colored blue, orange, and yellow. The galaxy shows many individual blue dots, which are individual stars or hotbeds of star formation.
Webb’s image also provides a new view of how the galaxy has changed over billions of years. Well, Webb’s NIRCam reveals these evolving areas in stunning new detail. This, according to the US space agency, means that the new image reveals the history of the galaxy while indicating how it will continue to evolve in the future.
