Cartwheel Galaxy, ESO 350-40

This image of Arp 107, shown by Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), reveals the supermassive black hole that lies in the center of the large spiral galaxy to the right. This black hole, which pulls much of the dust into lanes, also display’s Webb’s characteristic diffraction spikes, caused by the light that it emits interacting with the structure of the telescope itself. Perhaps the defining feature of the region, which MIRI reveals, are the millions of young stars that are forming, highlighted in blue. These stars are surrounded by dusty silicates and soot-like molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The small elliptical galaxy to the left, which has already gone through much of its star formation, is composed of many of these organic molecules.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

This “penguin party” is loud! The distorted spiral galaxy at center, the Penguin, and the compact elliptical galaxy at left, the Egg, are locked in an active embrace. A new near- and mid-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope, taken to mark its second year of science, shows that their interaction is marked by a faint upside-down U-shaped blue glow. The pair, known jointly as Arp 142, made their first pass between 25 and 75 million years ago — causing “fireworks,” or new star formation, in the Penguin. In the most extreme cases, mergers can cause galaxies to form thousands of new stars per year, for a few million years. For the Penguin, research has shown that about 100 to 200 stars have formed per year. By comparison, our Milky Way galaxy (which is not interacting with a galaxy of the same size) forms roughly six to seven new stars per year. This gravitational shimmy also remade the Penguin’s appearance. Its coiled spiral arms unwound, and gas and dust were pulled in an array of directions, like it was releasing confetti. It is rare for individual stars to collide when galaxies interact (space is vast), but galaxies’ mingling disrupts stars’ orbits. Today, the Penguin’s galactic center looks like an eye set within a head, and the galaxy has prominent star trails that take the shape of a beak, backbone, and fanned-out tail. A faint, but prominent dust lane extends from its beak down to its tail. Despite the Penguin appearing far larger than the Egg, these galaxies have approximately the same mass. This is one reason why the smaller-looking Egg hasn’t yet merged with the Penguin. (If one was less massive, it may have merged earlier.) The oval Egg is filled with old stars, and little gas and dust, which is why it isn’t sending out “streamers” or tidal tails of its own and instead has maintained a compact oval shape. If you look closely, the Egg has four prominent diffraction spikes — the galaxy’s stars are so concentrated that it gleams. Now, find the bright, edge-on galaxy at top right. It may look like a party crasher, but it’s not nearby. Cataloged PGC 1237172, it lies 100 million light-years closer to Earth. It is relatively young and isn’t overflowing with dust, which is why it practically disappears in Webb’s mid-infrared view. The background of this image is overflowing with far more distant galaxies. This is a testament to the sensitivity and resolution of Webb’s infrared cameras. Additional images of Arp 142 are available at left, under the Download Options, including a cropped image (like the one above) that features only near-infrared light, and a wider near-infrared field of view, which features an even greater number of distant galaxies. Arp 142 lies 326 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra. Extended Description and Image Alt Text

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observed the outskirts of our Milky Way galaxy. Known as the Extreme Outer Galaxy, this region is located more than 58,000 light-years from the Galactic Center. To learn more about how a local environment affects the star formation process within it, a team of scientists directed the telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) toward a total of four star-forming areas within Digel Clouds 1 and 2: 1A, 1B, 2N, and 2S. In the case of Cloud 2S, shown here, Webb revealed a luminous main cluster that contains newly formed stars. Several of these young stars are emitting extended jets of material from their poles. To the main cluster’s top right is a sub-cluster of stars, a feature that scientists previously suspected to exist but has now been confirmed with Webb. Additionally, the telescope revealed a deep sea of background galaxies and red nebulous structures that are being carved away by winds and radiation from nearby stars.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Michael Ressler (NASA-JPL)