The Blinking Planetary Nebula, NGC 6826 // Dionysus

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Gravitational arcs in ‘El Gordo’ galaxy cluster.

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Diego (Instituto de Física de Cantabria), B. Frye (University of Arizona), P. Kamieneski (Arizona State University), T. Carleton (Arizona State University), R. Windhorst (Arizona State University), A. Pagan (STScI), J. Summers (Arizona State University), J. D’Silva (University of Western Australia), A. Koekemoer (STScI), A. Robotham (University of Western Australia).

Cure

Do not separate them

(via)

Prepare for visual overload! Today, 19 images of nearby face-on spiral galaxies by the James Webb Space Telescope were released. This marks the first time we’ve observed these galaxies in high-resolution near- and mid-infrared light. What do they uniquely show?

The galaxies’ clearly defined spiral arms are brimming with millions of stars. Their centers may be filled with old star clusters or active supermassive black holes. And Webb has shown us where stars that haven’t yet fully formed are still encased in the gas and dust that feed their growth, like bright red seeds.

Webb’s new images are part of a large, long-standing project, the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) program, and will be added to images and data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Very Large Telescope’s Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. Now, astronomers around the world can examine these galaxies carefully in ultraviolet, visible, radio—and now near- and mid-infrared light.

Skip to the bottom of the page to look at each galaxy: https://webbtelescope.pub/3SxNSaU

ALT TEXT: Nineteen Webb images of face-on spiral galaxies are combined in a mosaic. Some appear within squares, and others horizontal or vertical rectangles. Many galaxies have blue hazes toward the centers, and all have orange spiral arms. Many have clear bar shaped-structures at their centers, but a few have spirals that begin at their cores. Some of the galaxies’ arms form clear spiral shapes, while others are more irregular. Some of the galaxies’ arms appear to rotate clockwise and others counterclockwise. Most galaxy cores are centered, but a few appear toward an image’s edge. Most galaxies appear to extend beyond the captured observations. The galaxies shown, listed in alphabetical order, are IC 5332, NGC 628, NGC 1087, NGC1300, NGC 1365, NGC 1385, NGC 1433, NGC 1512, NGC 1566, NGC 1672, NGC 2835, NGC 3351, NGC 3627, NGC 4254, NGC 4303, NGC 4321, NGC 4535, NGC 5068, and NGC 7496.

Before you ask, yes, we see that face-shaped cloud made of dust and gas (with stars for eyes) on the right side of this image as well.  

But the Tarantula Nebula is a far wilder place than weird red blobs. It is a large star-forming region of ionized hydrogen gas that lies 161,000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Its turbulent clouds of gas and dust can be seen swirling between the region’s luminous, newly formed stars.

Also known as 30 Doradus, it is the brightest star-forming region in our galactic neighborhood and home to the hottest, most massive stars known. This makes it an excellent natural laboratory to test theories of star formation and evolution. 

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray, E. Sabbi; Y.-H. Chu.

NGC 1512 (Hubble + Webb) by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope

JFYI

Supermassive Star Eta Carinae ©

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