See 19 gorgeous face-on spiral galaxies in new James Webb data

By Georgina Torbet Published February 16, 2024

A stunning new set of images from the James Webb Space Telescope illustrates the variety of forms that exist within spiral galaxies like our Milky Way. The collection of 19 images shows a selection of spiral galaxies seen from face-on in the near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths, highlighting the similarities and differences that exist across these majestic celestial objects.

“Webb’s new images are extraordinary,” said Janice Lee of the Space Telescope Science Institute, in a statement. “They’re mind-blowing even for researchers who have studied these same galaxies for decades. Bubbles and filaments are resolved down to the smallest scales ever observed, and tell a story about the star formation cycle.”

This collection of 19 face-on spiral galaxies from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope in near- and mid-infrared light is at once overwhelming and awe-inspiring. Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) captured millions of stars in these images. Older stars appear blue here, and are clustered at the galaxies’ cores. The telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) observations highlight glowing dust, showing where it exists around and between stars – appearing in shades of red and orange. Stars that haven’t yet fully formed and are encased in gas and dust appear bright red. — This collection of 19 face-on spiral galaxies in near- and mid-infrared light is at once overwhelming and awe-inspiring. The James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) captured millions of stars in these images. Older stars appear blue here, and are clustered at the galaxies’ cores. The telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) observations highlight glowing dust, showing where it exists around and between stars – and appearing in shades of red and orange. Stars that haven’t yet fully formed and are encased in gas and dust appear bright red. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Lee (STScI), T. Williams (Oxford), PHANGS Team, E. Wheatley (STScI)

These images were collected as part of the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) program, which includes data not only from Webb, but also from other telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, and others. The aim of the project is to survey nearby galaxies to understand how stars form, and the Webb data adds information in the infrared wavelength to existing data in the ultraviolet, visible light, and radio wavelengths.

Recommended Videos

“Stars can live for billions or trillions of years,” said researcher Adam Leroy of the Ohio State University. “By precisely cataloging all types of stars, we can build a more reliable, holistic view of their life cycles.”

The full catalog of images, which you can see on the Webb Telescope website, show a number of interesting features. The spiral arms reaching out from the bright center are the defining feature of this type of galaxy. These arms show stars in blue and dust in red, and a notable feature in some is areas of spherical shells without dust, which are thought to have been created by stars that exploded and pushed away matter from their immediate environment.

Other areas of interest are the bright cores, with data suggesting that star formation begins at the core and spreads outward to the arms, so more stars that are more distant from the center are likely to be younger.

The researchers are also releasing a catalog of information on 100,000 star clusters, which they hope other researchers can make use of. “The amount of analysis that can be done with these images is vastly larger than anything our team could possibly handle,” said Erik Rosolowsky of the University of Alberta. “We’re excited to support the community so all researchers can contribute.”

Georgina Torbet

Space Writer

Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…

Topics

Tech News

Space

James Webb captures a rare astronomical ring in the sky

This new NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month features a rare cosmic phenomenon called an Einstein ring. What at first appears to be a single, strangely shaped galaxy is actually two galaxies that are separated by a large distance. The closer foreground galaxy sits at the center of the image, while the more distant background galaxy appears to be wrapped around the closer galaxy, forming a ring.

A striking new image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows a rare object called an Einstein ring. This shows what appears to be a ring-shaped object in the sky, but is actually created by two separate galaxies and the epic forces of gravity.

There's a useful astronomical phenomenon called gravitational lensing, in which a large object like a galaxy or a cluster of galaxies has so much mass that it actually bends spacetime. If a massive object sits in front of a more distant object, as seen from Earth, the massive object can act like a magnifying glass, letting us see the very distant object in more detail than would normally be possible. This is a relatively common finding in astronomical images, and is one way that scientists are able to study extremely distant galaxies.

Space

James Webb captures gorgeous image of a Cosmic Tornado

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope observed Herbig-Haro 49/50, an outflow from a nearby still-forming star, in high-resolution near- and mid-infrared light with the NIRCam and MIRI instruments. The intricate features of the outflow, represented in reddish-orange color, provide detailed clues about how young stars form and how their jet activity affects the environment around them. A chance alignment in this direction of the sky provides a beautiful juxtaposition of this nearby Herbig-Haro object (located within our Milky Way) with a more distant, face-on spiral galaxy in the background.

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured another stunning image of space, this time showing the dramatic scenes around a baby star. Very young stars can throw off powerful jets of hot gas as they form, and when these jets collide with nearby dust and gas they form striking structures called Herbig-Haro objects.

This new image shows Herbig-Haro 49/50, located nearby to Earth at just 630 light-years away in the constellation Chamaeleon. Scientists have observed this object before, using the Spitzer Space Telescope, and they named the object the "Cosmic Tornado" because of its cone-like shape. To show the impressive powers of James Webb to capture objects like this one in exquisite detail, you can compare the Spitzer image from 2006 and the new James Webb image.

Space

NASA’s Webb telescope peers straight at Saturn-like planets 130 light-years away

Saturn captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.

The James Webb Space Telescope is NASA's most precise and technically proficient equipment for observing the wonders of the universe. Astronomers rely on it to unravel the deepest secrets by peaking at distant solar systems and capturing planets like those in ours.

Much recently, the Webb Telescope was able to capture its first direct image of exoplanets nearly 130 light-years away from the Earth. The observatory seized images of four "giant" planets in the solar system of a distant star called HR 8799. This is a fairly young system formed roughly 30 million years ago, a timeline that dwarfs in comparison to our solar system's 4.6 billion years of age.