A starburst shines in infrared
We aren’t blowing smoke, M82 is working overtime forming new stars!
This galaxy, called Messier 82 (M82) or the Cigar Galaxy, is smaller than our Milky Way, but 5x as luminous and forms stars 10x faster! Its fast rate of star formation classifies M82 as a starburst galaxy. In visible-light images of the galaxy, the hotbed of star formation at the center is obscured by dust and clouds, but with Webb’s NIRCam, we can see through the dust into the full brilliance of the galactic center.
Why is this galaxy forming so many stars? M82 has a larger spiral as a galactic neighbor. The galaxies have likely been interacting gravitationally, sending gas into M82’s center, providing raw material for new stars to form. M82 is home to more than 100 super star clusters, which each contain hundreds of thousands of stars, and are more massive and more luminous than typical star clusters.
In 2024, an earlier image by Webb focused on the core of the galaxy, while the new near-infrared image takes a broader view, capturing the glow of organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, as well as the billions of stars.
Webb’s mid-infrared view (shown here), in contrast to near-infrared views, is nearly starless, and is dominated by the emission from the warm dust and clouds of sooty PAH’s. The clouds are captured in great detail, showing their size and structure, and also that they appear to have been caught up in the galaxy’s powerful outflowing winds and whisked away from the galactic disc.
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Bolatto
Image description: An image of the central part of galaxy M82. Its disc, a narrow bar from the top to the bottom of the image, can be seen by its intense blue-white glow. Thick clouds of gas cover the scene, erupting from the galaxy’s core out to the left and right. The gas is mostly pale red in colour and richly textured, with ridges and cavities visible in great detail. A few stars in M82 are visible scattered across the gas.
A starburst shines in infrared
We aren’t blowing smoke, M82 is working overtime forming new stars!
This galaxy, called Messier 82 (M82) or the Cigar Galaxy, is smaller than our Milky Way, but 5x as luminous and forms stars 10x faster! Its fast rate of star formation classifies M82 as a starburst galaxy. In visible-light images of the galaxy, the hotbed of star formation at the center is obscured by dust and clouds, but with Webb’s NIRCam, we can see through the dust into the full brilliance of the galactic center.
Why is this galaxy forming so many stars? M82 has a larger spiral as a galactic neighbor. The galaxies have likely been interacting gravitationally, sending gas into M82’s center, providing raw material for new stars to form. M82 is home to more than 100 super star clusters, which each contain hundreds of thousands of stars, and are more massive and more luminous than typical star clusters.
In 2024, an earlier image by Webb focused on the core of the galaxy, while the new near-infrared image takes a broader view, capturing the glow of organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, as well as the billions of stars.
Webb’s mid-infrared view (shown here), in contrast to near-infrared views, is nearly starless, and is dominated by the emission from the warm dust and clouds of sooty PAH’s. The clouds are captured in great detail, showing their size and structure, and also that they appear to have been caught up in the galaxy’s powerful outflowing winds and whisked away from the galactic disc.
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Bolatto
Image description: An image of the central part of galaxy M82. Its disc, a narrow bar from the top to the bottom of the image, can be seen by its intense blue-white glow. Thick clouds of gas cover the scene, erupting from the galaxy’s core out to the left and right. The gas is mostly pale red in colour and richly textured, with ridges and cavities visible in great detail. A few stars in M82 are visible scattered across the gas.