9/20/2023 0 Comments Webb telescopeIt works by blocking out the brighter object's light, which makes it possible to capture the dimmer object nearby. The equipment allows astronomers to take pictures of very faint objects around a central bright object, a NASA fact sheet says. They were taken using JWST's Near infrared Camera (NIRCam), which covers infrared wavelength range from 0.6 to 5 microns, and Mid-InfraRed Instrument, which covers infrared wavelength range from 5 to 28 microns. In fact, the image above is actually a series of separate exposures that were originally in grey scale and were beamed back to Earth. That's because the image isn't a photograph. The red regions show the reprocessed light from complex molecules forming on dust grains, while colours of orange and yellow reveal the regions of ionised gas by the recently formed star clusters. In the new M51 image, the dark red regions trace the filamentary warm dust permeating the medium of the galaxy. The new M51 image was observed as a part of the wider project Feedback in Emerging extrAgalactic Star clusTers - or FEAST.įEAST observations are trying to shed light on star formation and stellar feedback - or the amount of energy stars pour into environments that form them - in galaxies outside the Milky Way.īasically, FEAST is looking into how stars are formed. The gravitational pull of M51's smaller neighbour is thought to be partially responsible for M51's distinct spiral arms. M51 has been of particular interest for astronomers due to its tumultuous relationship with its neighbour, the dwarf galaxy NGC 5195. Those swirling arms are actually long lanes of stars and gas laced with dust. ![]() The galaxy is nicknamed the Whirlpool because of its swirling structure. It's stands out because, unlike other spiral galaxies that have jagged, incomplete arms, M51 boast prominent, well-developed spiral arms like the ones showcased in this image. In its latest press release on the galaxy, the European Space Agency (ESA) says it's about 27 million light-years away from Earth. M51 - also known as NGC 5194 - is located in the constellation Canes Venatici. The ultra-powerful James Webb Space Telescope has taken the clearest image of the M51 galaxy in almost two decades.Ī team of scientists at Stockholm university used the telescope to produce a clear image of the galaxy that exists millions of light years away from ours.
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