The four galaxies are gradually colliding with each other
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — The James Webb telescope watched shattered galaxies collide. The discovery of the processes that led to the formation of large, brilliant, and complex galaxies like the Milky Way is one of the main scientific goals of the Webb space telescope.
Now, the most advanced telescope has released photos of four galaxies slowly dying out. Four galaxies, located between 210 and 340 million light-years away, are slowly dying out.
Stephans Quintet is the name of this collection of five galaxies, but one is actually about 200 million light-years closer to the Milky Way than the other.
The other four galaxies gradually collided with each other, as if a train crash was happening in cosmic slow motion.
“They are locked in a tight interaction, a kind of cosmic dance driven by the force of gravity,” said scientist Giovanna Giardino. Inverse.
The two galaxies on the right side of the image have merged, and the remaining galaxies are sure to follow. The bright orange and red arcs between the merging pairs can be seen in near infrared as the shock waves from the collision rippled through the gas cloud, heating and compressing the gas and triggering a wave of star formation.
An active supermassive black hole, actively feeding on matter from the surrounding galaxy, is revealed in the upper right galaxy by MIRI’s mid-infrared photo. In the mid-infrared photos, this “active galactic core,” appears as bright light, despite the fact that it is 40 billion times brighter than the Sun.
“We can’t see the black hole itself. But we see swirling matter swallowed up by cosmic monsters. This gas is heated to very high temperatures as it falls into the black hole, and becomes very bright,” Giordino said.
Astronomers use the NIRSpec instrument to focus on the core of an active galaxy to have a better understanding of what happens when a black hole eats up its parent galaxy.
To understand gas composition, velocity, and temperature, scientists have this technology that allows us to collect thousands of photos from different wavelength channels.
“To understand physics, it’s very important,” he said.
Scientists say that telescopic head james webb that is now functioning, that performs better than expected in almost every respect, should be operational for the next two decades.
“I’m excited and I’m relieved,” said John Mather, astrophysicist at Goddard and senior project scientist for Webb.
The James Webb Telescope is a collaborative effort between the American Space Agency (NASA) European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency, with scientists working together across agencies and across divisions within agencies, all contributing in unique ways to this major project.