The hidden structure of a distant galaxy has been revealed in a new photo taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.
The spiral galaxy IC 5332 is located in the constellation Sculptor and is more than 29 million light years away. Its spiral arms can be seen clearly as it sits face-on with Earth.
IC 5332 has had its picture taken before. The Hubble Space Telescope has been able to image the 66,000 light-year-wide galaxy. The Hubble Telescope can only see in the visible part of the spectrum. The updated image contains a lot of previously obscured details that make it look completely different.
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The European Space Agency, which captured the new image, wrote in a statement that the Hubble image shows dark regions that seem to separate the spiral arms.
The difference is due to the dust in the galaxy, which scatters ultraviolet and visible light more than the frequencies available to the JWST. There are different stars visible across the two images.
The JWST used a special camera that needs to be supercooled to minus 448.6 degrees Fahrenheit in order to remove the effects of the IR. As the heat of our planet would drown out the distant galaxy's signal, the location of the JWST in the cold expanse of space is essential.
The $10 billion space observatory is more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope and was launched in December of 2021. The most advanced space telescope ever built has the ability to peek inside the atmospheres of far-away exoplanets and read the earliest chapter of the universe's history in its lightest of light.
After six months of preparation, the telescope's instruments and mirror were ready for use. The telescope has been wowing with a steady stream of mindblowing snaps of our near and distant universe since it was unveiled in July. The telescope has captured amazing images of Einstein rings, cartwheel galaxies, and Neptune's halo.
In the case of IC 5332, the scientists hope that by comparing the Hubble and JWST images of the distant galaxy, they can learn more about its composition and structure, as well as how these may translate to more general patterns witnessed across all spirals.
It was originally published on Live Science
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