2023-09-10 06:00:06
The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as M51 and NGC 5194, is a “grand design” spiral galaxy spanning 77,000 light years. Located 27 million light years from our solar system, in the constellation of the Hounds (The Hounds are a small boreal constellation without a star…), it has just been immortalized like never before by the telescope space (A space telescope is a telescope placed beyond the atmosphere. The…) James Webb.
The spiral galaxy ((see discussion page)) Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) captured in infrared (Infrared radiation (IR) is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength…) by the telescope (A telescope, (of the Greek tele meaning “far” and skopein meaning…) spatial James Webb.
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Adamo (Stockholm University) and the FEAST JWST team
Recent image from the James Webb Telescope reveals never-before-seen details of the Whirlpool Galaxy. The core of the galaxy appears as a pale blue eye surrounded by deep orange filaments and yellow spirals. These colors highlight regions of ionized gas and dust, made visible thanks to the telescope’s infrared capabilities.
The image combines data from the telescope’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) instruments. It is the fruit of a project called Feedback in Emerging extrAgalactic Star clusters (FEAST), which studies the influence of stars on their environment during their formation.
The Whirlpool Galaxy is similar to our Milky Way and has been studied many times by astronomers. It interacts with a neighboring dwarf galaxy, NGC 5195, which might explain the perfection of its spiral arms.
To observe it, simply point a good telescope towards the constellation of the Hounds, between the stars Alkaid (Alkaid (Eta Ursae Majoris / η UMa / η Ursae Majoris / Benetnash) is a star of the…) and Cor Carol. The best period for observation from the northern hemisphere is spring (from the Latin primus, first, and tempus, time, this season formerly marking the…).
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