NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured a stunning new view of a spiral galaxy located more than 29 million light-years from Earth.
Web image shows galaxy IC 5332 in ‘unprecedented detail’, NASA and the European Space Agency Say.
According to NASA and the European Space Agency, IC 5332 is about 66,000 light-years in diameter, roughly a third smaller than our Milky Way galaxy. IC 5332 is also “an almost perfect face with respect to the Earth, which allows us to admire the symmetrical sweep of its spiral arms.”
in Tuesday releaseand the European Space Agency compared Webb’s image to another fascinating view of the galaxy: an image from the Hubble Space Telescope, showing dark areas that appear to separate the spiral arms of IC 5332.
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on TwitterHubble called the collaboration a “galactic cluster project.”
The Hubble image of ultraviolet and visible light was created using data from the telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3. Because ultraviolet and visible light are “more likely to be scattered by interstellar dust than infrared light,” the European Space Agency says, regions could be The easily dusty galaxy is identified as darker in the image.
In contrast, Webb took his photo with the Mid-InfraRed tool. “Those same dusty regions are no longer as dark in the image of the Web (because) mid-infrared light from the galaxy was able to pass through them,” the European Space Agency wrote.
web telescope Twitter page notes Her MIRI image shows the “bones” of the galaxy IC 5332, usually hidden by dust.
The two images also show a group of stars, which are similarly the result of different instruments.
more: The images of the James Webb Telescope are impressive. What do you know about NASA’s space camera?
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Webb’s Twitter page reads: “Different stars shine more brightly at different wavelengths of light – so some stars are more visible in the @NASAHubble view, while others are more visible with Webb.” Together, these two views provide us with a more complete understanding of the structure and composition of IC 5332.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Stunning views of the spiral galaxy from NASA’s James Webb, Hubble comparison