A batch of newly released images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope show in remarkable detail 19 spiral galaxies residing relatively near our Milky Way, offering new clues on star formation as well as galactic structure and evolution.
The images were made public on Monday by a team of scientists involved in a project called Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) that operates across several major astronomical observatories.
Spiral galaxy NGC 1512, located 30 million light-years away from Earth, is seen in an undated image from the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), and the PHANGS team/Handout via REUTERS
The closest of the 19 galaxies is called NGC5068, about 15 million light years from Earth, and the most distant of them is NGC1365, about 60 million light years from Earth. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).
Spiral galaxy NGC 628, located 32 million light-years away from Earth, is seen in an undated image from the James Webb Space Telescope. Webb’s image of NGC 628 shows a densely populated face-on spiral galaxy anchored by its central region, which has a light blue haze that takes up about a quarter of the view. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), and the PHANGS team/Handout via REUTERS
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched in 2021 and began collecting data in 2022, reshaping the understanding of the early universe while taking wondrous pictures of the cosmos. The orbiting observatory looks at the universe mainly in the infrared. The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990 and still operational, has examined it primarily at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths.
A collection of 19 spiral galaxies, viewed face-on, from the James Webb Space Telescope in near- and mid-infrared light is seen in this undated combination photograph. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), PHANGS Team/Handout via REUTERS
Spiral galaxies, resembling enormous pinwheels, are a common galaxy type. Our Milky Way is one.
The new observations came from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). They show roughly 100,000 star clusters and millions or perhaps billions of individual stars.
Spiral galaxy NGC 1300, located 69 million light-years away from Earth, is seen in an undated image from the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), and the PHANGS team/Handout via REUTERSSSpiral galaxy NGC 2835, located 35 million light-years away from Earth, is seen in an undated image from the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), and the PHANGS team/Handout via REUTERS
