The Webb Space Telescope’s newest target is one previously imaged by Hubble: the distant barred spiral galaxy EGS23205. Targets like these will advance our understanding of the early universe and how ancient stars and galaxies formed.
The two images above show EGS23205 as seen by Hubble and Webb. The Hubble image of the galaxy (taken in near infrared) is noisier, and it is difficult to discern the galaxy’s structure. But Webb’s image (at mid-infrared wavelengths) is sharper, revealing a clear band of stars extending from the galactic center.
Stellar bars are huge galactic cross-sections made up of countless stars. Bars play an important role in galactic evolution. They push gas toward the galactic center, helping to fuel star formation and fuel the supermassive black holes that lie within galactic cores. Our Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy.
The image was analyzed Submitted to arXiv prepress server last year. Webb imaged many ancient galaxies in just six months of science operations.
Some of the goals of the web are Among the oldest galaxies seen so farand it appears that it was on Webb only hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang (the universe is now close to 14 billion years old).
EGS23205 is considered as it was about 11 billion years ago. The image reveals that even early galaxies had well-defined bands (spiral galaxies previous thinking to be later entrants in the universe).
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Barely stripes appeared in the Hubble data in the JWST image, showing the tremendous power of the JWST to see the underlying structure in galaxiesSharda Joji, an astronomer at the American University of Austin and co-author of the research, said V.I press release.
Webb has previously imaged other objects once captured by Hubble. in OctoberThe new $10 billion Pillars of Creation observatory is huge Plumes of gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula. In the same month, Team Webb Produce an image of a galaxy merge 270 million light-years from Earth, captured by Hubble in 2008.
The two space telescopes observe different wavelengths for the most part – Hubble primarily in the visible wavelengths and Webb primarily in the infrared and near infrared. Webb’s lively craftsmanship is built on the mechanical shoulders of the Hubble Telescope. side by side image The comparisons show the differences in these wonderful observatories, and what is possible with the latest technology.
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