Webb Telescope captures the incredible beauty of the Ghost Galaxy

Last photo post telescope web It is a special collaboration with the Hubble Space Telescope. Scientists have combined data from the two observatories to produce these fascinating images of the Ghost Spiral Galaxy (also known as Messier 74 The galactic fan), about 32 million light-years from Earth.

The images prominently capture clouds of gas and dust and star-forming regions in the galaxy. You can even Seeing the distant universe behind the color of weapons Galactic red rust, as seen in optical and mid-infrared light.

according to guardianMessier 74 is nicknamed the Phantom Galaxy due to its faintness, which makes it difficult to spot in the sky. Fortunately, the Webb Web Space Telescope was launched in December 2021 And it was commissioned this spring, and is the most powerful space observatory to date.

M74 position approx face the earthand its well-connected spiral arms make it a great target for astronomers seeking to better understand the evolution of galaxies. The galaxy also doesn’t have a lot of gas in its center, so the stellar mass in its core is well resolved.

M74 tiene poco más de 13.000 millones de años. Es una galaxia espiral como nuestra propia Vía Láctea (que es un poco más antigua). Lo que aprendemos sobre la formación estelar dentro de M74 bien podría aplicarse a nuestro propio vecindario galáctico.

Las Webb’s first imagesnebulae, galaxies And spectra from the atmosphere of a planet outside the solar system, showed the scientific potential of the telescope. The telescope is now focused on a set of scientific objectives of particular interest to various forms of scientific collaboration. So there is a file Twitter bot what are you It will keep you up to date with what Web watching at any moment.

Recently, it’s the turn of cooperation CEERS Get photos of goals with Webb, which can observe distant and faint targets with better accuracy than other space telescopes.

M74 photo was taken as part of the collaborative work PHANGSwhich looks at 19 nearby star-forming galaxies, To better understand how these hot balls of gas form in our nearby universe.

Looking at the galaxy at different wavelengths of light highlights different features of its structure. In the pictures I took In Hubble’s optical light, the center of the galaxy is too bright to see much detail, but in an infrared webview, you can see Distinguish between individual points of light.

The Hubble image also highlights some pink spots throughout the galaxy; according to Release From the European Space Agency (ESA), these are clouds of hydrogen gas that indicate where stars formed recently. Combining the Hubble and Webb data creates a composite image that highlights the galaxy’s nuclear center while keeping the features of its spiral arms, i.e. reddish-brown dust, as they are.

Wavelengths also cause different feelings. The optical image makes the galaxy look more ethereal, while the infrared image makes it look cool. space vortex.

It will take some time before the data can be sifted by scientific teams, who will then draw conclusions about how stars form in these nearby spiral galaxies; but For now, we can enjoy the aesthetics of the universe.