“EXTRAORDINARY IMAGES” OF SPIRAL GALAXIES SNAPPED BY NASA TELESCOPE

Fri 02 February 2024:

Recently, a new set of photos taken with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope revealed remarkably clear views of spiral galaxies in near- and mid-infrared light.

New galactic architecture and materials are revealed by contrasting these new photographs in visible and ultraviolet light with earlier views captured by NASA’s other space telescope, Hubble.

The JWST’s infrared pictures accentuate the dust clouds and luminous lanes seen inside each galaxy’s spiral arms. The JWST photos are a component of the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby Galaxies (PHANGS) program, which is an ongoing project.

The telescope was launched into orbit two years ago and is fitted with highly sensitive instruments that allow it to view older and more distant objects than Hubble.

In a statement, Janice Lee, a project scientist for strategic initiatives at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, called the images “mind-blowing, even for researchers who have studied these same galaxies for decades.”

“Webb’s new images are extraordinary,” Lee said. “Bubbles and filaments are resolved down to the smallest scales ever observed, and tell a story about the star formation cycle.”

The university said the “extraordinary images will provide several new puzzle pieces for astronomers and astrophysicists around the world”.

They were made public on Monday by scientists involved in a project called Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) that operates across several major astronomical observatories.

Astronomers have for decades been able to observe these nearby spiral galaxies, but this is the first time images of them have been presented to the public, NASA said.

Webb’s high-resolution images – captured with a NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) – show millions of stars, which sparkle in blue tones. Some stars are spread throughout the spiral arms, but others are clumped tightly together in star clusters.

By studying these structures, astronomers hope to gain new insights into how stars form within galaxies.

Teams of researchers are now studying the images to uncover the origins of these intricate structures. Forthcoming research should ultimately help humanity better understand not only star formation, but the evolution of spiral galaxies, NASA said.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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