JWST - James Webb Space Telescope
Merging Galaxy IIZw096
A larger group of scientists used the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to obtain the first spatially resolved, mid-infrared (mid-IR) images of IIZw096, a merging luminous infrared galaxy. Previous observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope suggested that the vast majority of the total IR luminosity of the system originated from a small region outside of the two merging nuclei. New observations with JWST/MIRI now allow an accurate measurement of the location and luminosity density of the source that is responsible for the bulk of the IR emission... In addition, they detect 11 other star forming sources, five of which were previously unknown.
For more information see draft version August 24, 2022 arxiv.org/pdf/2208.10647
The red bubble is from Spitzer (SST) for comparison.
In the red-pink square two sources of intense IR radiation are visible. The larger source at upper left is only visible as a dark dust clump in Hubble images. As can be shown with Webb's picture, however, this probably contains a massive star formation region in the middle where possibly more than 100 new suns are produced resp. to be born each year. Around it there are various irregular white dots, which are also smaler young star-forming regions (star clusters), some of which have only now been discovered via the JWST. The second area on bottom right is also visible on Hubble and also shows a group of very bright star clusters, but which are not hidden in a clump of dust.
Merging Galaxy IIZw096
A larger group of scientists used the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to obtain the first spatially resolved, mid-infrared (mid-IR) images of IIZw096, a merging luminous infrared galaxy. Previous observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope suggested that the vast majority of the total IR luminosity of the system originated from a small region outside of the two merging nuclei. New observations with JWST/MIRI now allow an accurate measurement of the location and luminosity density of the source that is responsible for the bulk of the IR emission... In addition, they detect 11 other star forming sources, five of which were previously unknown.
For more information see draft version August 24, 2022 arxiv.org/pdf/2208.10647
The red bubble is from Spitzer (SST) for comparison.
In the red-pink square two sources of intense IR radiation are visible. The larger source at upper left is only visible as a dark dust clump in Hubble images. As can be shown with Webb's picture, however, this probably contains a massive star formation region in the middle where possibly more than 100 new suns are produced resp. to be born each year. Around it there are various irregular white dots, which are also smaler young star-forming regions (star clusters), some of which have only now been discovered via the JWST. The second area on bottom right is also visible on Hubble and also shows a group of very bright star clusters, but which are not hidden in a clump of dust.