loading…
The James Webb Space Telelscope’s MIRI camera reveals areas rich in hydrocarbons and silicate dust. Photo/NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
The galaxy, called the Cartwheel because of its resemblance to an ancient chariot wheel, was previously studied by the Hubble Space Telescope. However, the infrared light of the James Webb Telescope has revealed a large amount of previously unseen detail in the structure of galaxies.
The Cartwheel Galaxy is still transforming as a result of past collisions, and new observations will help provide insight into past and future evolution. Infrared light, which is essentially heat, penetrated through the dust cloud, allowing the James Webb Space Telescope to peer into regions of space that the Hubble optical telescope could not record.
Also read; James Webb Space Telescope Captures Hundreds of Glittering Images of Galaxies
In the new image, the Webb NIRCam and MIRI instruments, reveal individual stars within the star-forming regions of the Cartwheel galaxy’s outer ring. This includes very young star clusters around the galaxy’s central supermassive black hole, which is also shrouded in dust.
The Cartwheel Galaxy, located about 500 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Sculptor in the southern sky, is a rather rare type of galaxy that astronomers call a ring galaxy. Scientists believe that long ago, the Cartwheel was a common spiral galaxy, similar to our Milky Way.
Then, about 700 to 800 million light years ago, it collided with a smaller galaxy. The collision changed its shape and structure to form two ring-like structures, one surrounding the center of the galaxy and the other framing the entire galaxy.
“The two rings extend outward from the galactic center like ripples in a pond,” said the Institute for Space Telescope Science (STScI), which operates the James Webb Telescope in Maryland.
Also read; Reveal the formation of the universe, James Webb telescope studies super bright quasars
According to STScI, as the outer ring expands, it pushes out dust and gas that surrounds the galaxy and triggers star formation. The areas where new stars are born appear as tiny blue dots in the image and are scattered throughout the galaxy, but are mainly concentrated in the outer ring.
The James Webb Telescope observations also revealed areas rich in hydrocarbons and silicate dust, which form the radii connecting the inner and outer rings. Previous Hubble images were also able to distinguish radii, but new Webb observations make this feature clearer.
(Web)
–
