The James Webb Space Telescope has captured new details of a so-called Phantom galaxy in a spectacular image showing its spiral shape released by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA.
Launched into space in late 2021 and operational since July, James Webb has since revealed impressive images of Jupiter, nebulae and other distant galaxies, providing scientists with a wealth of never-before-seen data to analyze.
The one published on Monday shows M74, or the Phantom Galaxy, its bright blue heart and its impeccable spiral, observed by the MIRI instrument, which studies the mid-infrared and is the result of a collaboration between Europeans and Americans.
“Webb’s piercing gaze revealed fine filaments of gas and dust in the luminous spiral-shaped arms that extend from the center of this image”, notes on its site the ESA, which specifies that the galaxy had already been observed by the mythical Hubble space telescope, launched in 1990 and still in operation.
AFP