James Webb snaps a Christmas galaxy ornament!
Recommended for Preparatory Grades
A Faraway Galaxy Looks Like a Shiny Christmas Decoration in a Breathtaking Picture Taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.
The spiral galaxy is nearly 230 million light-years away. This picture is so pretty that it could be put on a Christmas tree.
As part of a study of space, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) captured the NGC 7469.
James Webb is trying to figure out how stars are made and how supermassive black holes change over time. In addition to figuring out how galaxies interact with each other through gravity and merge across huge gaps in space and time.
Key facts!
- In the picture, the centre of the galaxy is almost directly in front of us.
- This gives us a beautiful view of how the galaxy is put together.
- It has graceful and beautiful spiral arms that we can see in all their glory because the galactic plane is almost directly facing us.
- Also, the centre of the galaxy is very bright, especially in terms of the infrared light it gives off.
- This is because of the very large black hole at the centre of the galaxy, around which the galaxy revolves.
- It is surrounded by matter that is falling into it, a process called “accretion.”
- This makes a lot of light because gravity and friction heat the falling matter, making it glow.
- This is because both of these things heat the material.
- About 1,500 light-years from the centre of the galaxy where NGC 7469 is, there is another bright ring with a lot of star formation going on.
- This is called a “starburst.”
- Because we can see the galaxy so well, scientists can study it to learn more about how a starburst ring and an active galactic core are connected.
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Watch a video
What a year it has been for Webb! It feels like just yesterday we were getting ready to launch, and now Webb has hit the ground running in its mission to #UnfoldTheUniverse. Break out your box of tissues and relive the magic with us. Happy Birthday, Webb! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/yl3RD932LI
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) December 19, 2022
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