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Spiral galaxy NGC 1512 is 30 million light-years away.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) regularly captures stunning images of our universe, leaving space lovers mesmerized. The social media handles of the US Space Agency are a treasure trove for those who love to watch educational videos and fascinating images showcasing Earth and space. Now, in its recent post, NASA’s James Webb Telescope captured images of outer space which show “mind-blowing” spiral galaxies near the Milky Way.
Scientists working on the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) project, which spans multiple significant astronomical observatories, released the photos to the public on Monday. The spiral galaxies’ pictures, which resembled enormous, brilliant pinwheels, provided a more thorough explanation of star creation and the structure and evolution of the galaxy.
Janice Lee, the project scientist for strategic initiatives at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, said in a statement, “The JWST’s new images are extraordinary. They’re mind-blowing even for researchers who have studied these same galaxies for decades. Bubbles and filaments are resolved down to the smallest scales ever observed and tell a story about the star formation cycle.”
The JWST’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) produced the photos, which display bright orange dust lanes. Using the same instrument, stars that are still developing and gaining mass within their gas and dust envelopes were also recorded. The envelopes resemble red “seeds” on the peaks of dust lanes.
The closest galaxy captured on camera is approximately 15 million light-years from Earth, while the farthest distant galaxy is approximately 60 million light-years away.
These 19 spiral galaxy photos appear to show that galaxies grow from the inside out, which means that star formation begins in the centre of the galaxy and spreads outward through its spiral arms. This implies that stars are more likely to be relatively young the more they are from the galaxy’s core, with old stars largely concentrated near the centres of galaxies.
“The images are not only aesthetically stunning, they also tell a story about the cycle of star formation and feedback, which is the energy and momentum released by young stars into the space between stars. It actually looks like there was explosive activity and clearing of the dust and gas on both cluster and kiloparsec (roughly 3,000 light years) scales,” Ms Lee added.
She said, “The dynamic process of the overall star formation cycle becomes obvious and qualitatively accessible, even for the public, which makes the images compelling on many different levels.”
