NASA’s Chandra, Webb Telescopes Capture Arresting Views of M74 Spiral Galaxy in Multi-Wavelength Observation

This is the spiral galaxy “M74 (Messier 74)” about 32 million light years away in the direction of “Pisces”. Because M74 has distinct spiral arms, it is classified as a “grand design spiral galaxy” with distinct spiral arms.

The name “Messier” indicates that it is listed in the “Messier Catalog” compiled by French astronomer Charles Messier in the 18th century. M74 is also called the “Phantom Galaxy” because it is fainter and harder to see than other galaxies in the Messier Catalog.

This image was not actually taken with a single telescope. Data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the James Webb Space Telescope were used to create the images.

Infrared observations obtained by the Webb Space Telescope (colored green, yellow, or red depending on the filter used) outline the gas and dust present in M74. Optical observations taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (also colored orange, cyan, and blue) show stars and dust along dust lanes. And the X-ray observation data (colored in purple) obtained by the Chandra X-ray Observatory focuses on the activity of high-energy objects in M74.

[▲ Spiral galaxy M74 observed by the James Webb Space Telescope (Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: L. Frattare, J. Major, and K. Arcand)]

[▲ Spiral galaxy “M74” observed by the Hubble Space Telescope (Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: L. Frattare, J. Major, and K. Arcand)]

【▲ Spiral galaxy M74 observed by the Chandra X-ray Observatory (Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: L. Frattare, J. Major, and K. Arcand)]

In this way, observing the same celestial object not only with visible light but also with various wavelengths of electromagnetic waves such as infrared, ultraviolet, radio waves, and X-rays is called “multi-wavelength observation”. Multi-wavelength observation reveals properties and structures that could not be understood when observing only at a specific wavelength.

The image of M74 in this article was released May 23, 2023 by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-Ray Center.

Source

• Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: L. Frattare, J. Major, and K. Arcand
• NASA/JPL – NASA’s Chandra, Webb Telescopes Combine for Arresting Views
• Candra X-ray Center – NASA’s Chandra, Webb Combine for Arresting Views

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