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This image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows the heart of M74, otherwise known as the Phantom Galaxy. Webb’s sharp vision has revealed delicate filaments of gas and dust in the grandiose spiral arms which wind outwards from the centre of this image. A lack of gas in the nuclear region also provides an unobscured view of the nuclear star cluster at the galaxy's centre.
M74 is a particular class of spiral galaxy known as a ‘grand design spiral’, meaning that its spiral arms are prominent and well-defined, unlike the patchy and ragged structure seen in some spiral galaxies. The Phantom Galaxy is around 32 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Pisces, and lies almost face-on to Earth. This, coupled with its well-defined spiral arms, makes it a favorite target for astronomers studying the origin and structure of galactic spirals.
Webb gazed into M74 with its Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) in order to learn more about the earliest phases of star formation in the local Universe. These observations are part of a larger effort to chart 19 nearby star-forming galaxies in the infrared by the international PHANGS collaboration. Those galaxies have already been observed using the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observatories. The addition of crystal-clear Webb observations at longer wavelengths will allow astronomers to pinpoint star-forming regions in the galaxies, accurately measure the masses and ages of star clusters, and gain insights into the nature of the small grains of dust drifting in interstellar space.
Hubble observations of M74 have revealed particularly bright areas of star formation known as HII regions. Hubble’s sharp vision at ultraviolet and visible wavelengths complements Webb’s unparalleled sensitivity at infrared wavelengths, as do observations from ground-based radio telescopes such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, ALMA. By combining data from telescopes operating across the electromagnetic spectrum, scientists can gain greater insight into astronomical objects than by using a single observatory — even one as powerful as Webb! MIRI was contributed by ESA and NASA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (the MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona.
This image was processed by ESA.
Read more: esawebb.org/images/potm2208a/
Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team.
Acknowledgement: J. Schmidt
Image description:
Delicate gray, webby filaments form a spiral pattern winding outwards from the center of the galaxy. These spiral arms of the galaxy are traced by blue and bursts of pink; these are the regions in which stars are forming. The very heart of the galaxy is colored blue and has speckles, which are young stars, which are forming around the nucleus of the galaxy.
Inverted view of the 1 million km long solar filament
Lunt LS60, ASI120mm
AS!2, Registax 6, PS CS 6 inverted Ha
For the Macro Mondays' theme - Twist. A twisted tungsten filament in a small flashlight incandescent bulb.
I got lucky and came a cross some very heavily dewed spider webs this morning. I got unlucky when my battery died. Got a few shots though. The web was lit from the sun just cresting the dark trees in the background, which is why they pop so much.
Some of the interesting colors in this shot are coming from the spider web itself smashing up the light into rainbows like prisms. Look in between the drops and you can see what I mean. Not sure why this happens. See it better in large size.
Also, there are several threads holding the biggest dew drops. not sure if the web started this way or collapsed into this form from the weight. There was a full round web of drops.
I had to remove some lens flare from this...not entirely successful. Hope it isn't too noticeable.
Happy Monday!