International

A galactic high five from James Webb!

Shreyoshi Guha

13 Jul 2022 00:00 IST

New Update

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope observed Stephan's Quintet

On July 12, 2022, NASA released another set of images by the James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful observatory ever placed in orbit.

Take Five: Captured in exquisite detail, @NASAWebb peered through the thick dust of Stephan’s Quintet, a galaxy cluster showing huge shockwaves and tidal tails. This is a front-row seat to galactic evolution: https://t.co/63zxpNDi4I #UnfoldTheUniverse pic.twitter.com/em9wSJPkEU
— NASA (@NASA) July 12, 2022

The picture is captured in exquisite detail of Stephan’s Quintet. In the picture, you can see we see five galaxies, four of which interact. (The left galaxy is actually much closer to us than the rest of the group.) These colliding galaxies are pulling and stretching each other in a gravitational dance. Webb will revolutionize our knowledge of star formation and gas interactions within.â£

This mosaic is Webb’s largest image to date, covering an area of the sky 1/5 of the Moon’s diameter (as seen from Earth). It contains more than 150 million pixels and is constructed from about 1,000 image files. Webb is the most complex and powerful space telescope ever built.â£

White House Joe Biden Earth Space Planets Solar system Nasa stars Universe Space exploration James Webb space telescope Galaxies in universe First image from James Webb Space telescope First image of Universe deep field image Big Bang Nebula Hubble Space Telescope European and Canadian space agencies James Webb Space Webb's ring Southern Ring Nebula Stephanâs Quintet