🎃 Ever feel like you’re being watched? 👀

In the spirit of Halloween, this striking image unveils a cosmic pair of "eyes" peering through the universe. The haunting sight combines data from both the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope, showcasing the cores of two galaxies locked in a celestial dance.

On the left, the smaller spiral galaxy, IC 2163, is stealthily moving behind its larger partner, NGC 2207. These galaxies may continue this gravitational tango for millions of years, passing close enough to alter their shapes and create an even brighter, cyclops-like eye at their core.

What makes this image truly eerie is its blend of mid-infrared light from Webb and ultraviolet and visible light from Hubble, creating a palette perfect for Halloween. These galaxies are also star-making machines—forming the equivalent of two dozen new stars the size of our Sun each year. By comparison, our Milky Way only produces two or three Sun-sized stars per year!

🔭 A chilling reminder that the universe is full of wonders waiting to be uncovered.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

#galacticdance #spaceexploration #cosmicwonder #jameswebbtelescope #hubbletelescope #astronomy #webb #universe

✨ The Mystical Eye of the Phantom ✨

Take a breathtaking glimpse into the enigmatic M74, also known as the Phantom Galaxy. Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope's latest observations, scientists are unraveling new secrets hidden within its stellar nurseries, offering an unprecedented view into the heart of star formation.

The updated data allows for a clearer, more detailed exploration of the galaxy’s intricate arms and luminous core, further enriching our understanding of cosmic wonders.

🌌 Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Adamo (Stockholm University) and the FEAST JWST team

#spaceexploration #cosmicbeauty #jameswebbtelescope #astronomy #universe #webb

It’s giving rainbows and unicorns, like a middle school binder 🦄🌈
Meet NGC 602, a young star cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud (one of our satellite galaxies), where astronomers using @NASAWebb have found candidates for the first brown dwarfs outside of our galaxy. This star cluster has a similar environment to the kinds of star-forming regions that would have existed in the early Universe—with very low amounts of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. It’s drastically different from our own solar neighborhood and close enough to study in detail.
Brown dwarfs are… not quite stars, but also not quite gas giant planets either. Typically they range from about 13 to 75 Jupiter masses. They are sometimes free-floating and not gravitationally bound to a star like a planet would be. But they do share some characteristics with exoplanets, like storm patterns and atmospheric composition.
Hubble showed us that NGC 602 harbors some very young low-mass stars; Webb is showing us how significant and extensive objects like brown dwarfs are in this cluster. Scientists are excited to better be able to understand how they form, particularly in an environment similar to the harsh conditions of the early universe.

Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Zeidler, E. Sabbi, A. Nota, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)

#nasa #webb #galaxy #space #stars #science #astronomy #universe

On Wednesdays we wear pink.

Arp 107, an interacting galaxy pair, was captured by Webb in both the near and mid-infrared. What does each infrared wavelength tell us? Webb’s mid-infrared observations (highlighted here in pinkish hues show star-forming regions and dust, as well as the large spiral galaxy’s bright nucleus. Near-infrared data showcases the stars within the colliding galaxies, as well as the translucent bridge of stars being pulled from them both. Read more about these colliding galaxies in the link in the first comment.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

#nasa #webb #galaxy #space #stars #science #astronomy #universe

? 🤔

Thanks to a cosmic magnifying glass effect, the gravity of a massive galaxy cluster is warping two distant interacting galaxies (a face-on spiral and a dusty red galaxy) behind it, making them appear multiple times, tracing a shape that may be familiar. Though NASA Hubble previously observed the spiral, the dusty red galaxy has only been seen by Webb. Dust traps shorter wavelengths of light but allows infrared light to pass through. The dot of the question mark is an unrelated galaxy that happens to be in the right place and space-time, from our perspective. The lensing/magnification effect allows astronomers to pinpoint specific regions of star formation. Active star formation, and the face-on galaxy’s remarkably intact spiral shape, indicate that these galaxies’ interaction with each other is just beginning.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Vicente Estrada-Carpenter (Saint Mary's University)

#nasa #webb #galaxy #space #stars #science #astronomy #universe