Webb and Hubble examine spooky galaxy pair
Stare deeply at these galaxies. They appear as if blood is pumping through the top of a flesh-free face. The long, ghastly ‘stare’ of their searing eye-like cores shines out into the supreme cosmic darkness.
These galaxies have only grazed one another so far. The smaller spiral on the left, catalogued as IC 2163, is ever so slowly ‘creeping’ behind NGC 2207, the spiral galaxy on the right, millions of years ago.
The pair’s macabre colours represent a combination of mid-infrared light from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and visible and ultraviolet light from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
Look for potential evidence of their ‘light scrape’ in the shock fronts, where material from the galaxies may have slammed together. These lines represented in brighter red, including the ‘eyelids’, may cause the appearance of the galaxies’ bulging, vein-like arms.
The galaxies’ first pass may have also distorted their delicately curved arms, pulling out tidal extensions in several places. The diffuse, tiny spiral arms between IC 2163’s core and its far left arm may be an example of this activity. Even more tendrils look like they’re hanging between the galaxies’ cores. Another extension ‘drifts’ off the top of the larger galaxy, forming a thin, semi-transparent arm that practically runs off screen.
Both galaxies have high star formation rates, like innumerable individual hearts fluttering all across their arms. Each year, the galaxies produce the equivalent of two dozen new stars that are the size of the Sun. Our Milky Way galaxy only forms the equivalent of two or three new Sun-like stars per year. Both galaxies have also hosted seven known supernovae in recent decades, a high number compared to an average of one every 50 years in the Milky Way. Each supernova may have cleared space in the galaxies' arms, rearranging gas and dust that later cooled, and allowed many new stars to form.
To spot the star-forming ‘action sequences,’ look for the bright blue areas captured by Hubble in ultraviolet light, and the pink and white regions detailed mainly by Webb’s mid-infrared data. Larger areas of stars are known as super star clusters. Look for examples of these in the top-most spiral arm that wraps above the larger galaxy and points left. Other bright regions in the galaxies are mini starbursts – locations where many stars form in quick succession. Additionally, the top and bottom ‘eyelid’ of IC 2163, the smaller galaxy on the left, is filled with newer star formation and burns brightly.
What’s next for these spirals? Over many millions of years, the galaxies may swing by one another repeatedly. It’s possible that their cores and arms will meld, leaving behind completely reshaped arms, and an even brighter, cyclops-like ‘eye’ at the core. Star formation will also slow down once their stores of gas and dust deplete, and the scene will calm.
Want to ‘pull apart’ these images? Examine the galaxies’ skeleton-like appearance in Webb’s mid-infrared image, and compare the Hubble and Webb images side by side:
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Webb is the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. Under an international collaboration agreement, ESA provided the telescope’s launch service, using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace. ESA also provided the workhorse spectrograph NIRSpec and 50% of the mid-infrared instrument MIRI, which was designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona.
Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.
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