NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured an image of Arp 220, a very bright collision of two galaxies 250 million light-years away.
This infographic illustrates the spectrum of electromagnetic energy, specifically highlighting the portions detected by NASA’s Hubble, Spitzer, and Webb space telescopes. Credit: NASA and J. Olmsted [STScI].
“Shining like a brilliant beacon amidst a sea of galaxies, Arp 220 lights up the night sky in this view from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.” Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI | Processing: Alyssa Pagan Arp 220’s two spiral galaxies began colliding about 700 million years ago. The collision precipitated an “enormous burst of star formation.” Within a dusty region about 5,000 light-years across — about five percent of the Milky Way’s diameter — there are roughly 200 colossal star clusters. The amount of gas in this relatively tiny region of Arp 220 is equivalent to the gas in the entire Milky Way galaxy.
“On the outskirts of this merger, Webb reveals faint tidal tails, or material drawn off the galaxies by gravity, represented in blue — evidence of the galactic dance that is occurring. Organic material represented in reddish-orange appears in streams and filaments across Arp 220,” explains the Webb team., Webb’s image shows significantly more detail of the star-forming gas and dust surrounding the primary galactic collision.
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