This is NGC 1559, a barred spiral galaxy located approximately 35 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Reticle in the southern sky. A barred spiral galaxy is a spiral galaxy that has a bar-like structure in its center, and it is said that about two-thirds of all spiral galaxies have a bar-like structure in their center.
[▲NGC1559abarredspiralgalaxyobservedbytheJamesWebbSpaceTelescope’sNear-InfraredCamera(NIRCam)andMid-InfraredObservatory(MIRI)(Credit:ESA/WebbNASA&CSAALeroyJLeeandthePHANGSTeam)】
According to the European Space Agency (ESA), NGC 1559 on the celestial sphere is located approximately 160,000 light years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), one of the companion galaxies (satellite galaxies) of the Milky Way. Although it appears to be near the Large Magellanic Cloud, it is actually far away from the Large Magellanic Cloud, and is a solitary galaxy that does not belong to any galaxy cluster or group of galaxies.
This image was created based on data obtained by the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) near-infrared camera (NIRCam) and mid-infrared observation instrument (MIRI). Because the Webb Space Telescope primarily observes at infrared wavelengths that cannot be seen by the human eye, the colors of published images are colored according to the filters used during acquisition.
According to ESA, MIRI data (colored in red), which uses longer wavelength mid-infrared light, shows the distribution of interstellar dust, which along with gas is the material for new stars. On the other hand, NIRCam data (colored in blue, green, and orange), which observes in near-infrared light close to visible light, shows light from stars including young stars hidden in dust and emission nebulae surrounding young stars. Masu.
The observation of NGC 1559 by the Webb Space Telescope was carried out as part of the observation project “PHANGS” (Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS), which targets galaxies in the nearby universe. This project, which includes the Hubble Space Telescope, Chile’s ALMA radio telescope group, and the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) located at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, will High-resolution observations using electromagnetic waves of various wavelengths have been carried out for several years to understand star formation. The Webb Space Telescope, a new member of the project, has observed bubble-like and filament-like structures that tell us about the cycle of star formation on the smallest scale ever, surprising even researchers who have studied the same galaxy for many years. It means that there is.
The image at the beginning was published by ESA as “Webb Space Telescope Image of the Month” on February 27, 2024.
[▲Referenceimage:NGC1559abarredspiralgalaxyobservedbytheHubbleSpaceTelescope’sWideFieldCamera3(WFC3)(Credit:ESA/Hubble&NASA)]
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