#JWST image of Messier 77 ✨
M77, also known as the Squid Galaxy, is a barred spiral galaxy more than 45 million light-years away, invisible to the naked eye.
Its bright centre is an active galactic nucleus, an intensely energetic region created as gravity pulls gas towards a central supermassive black hole.
The 6 bright lines (+ 2vertical rays) are diffraction spikes: visual artefacts created by Webb’s hexagonal mirrors & telescope design.
Exploring a new neighborhood can be exciting. 🏠 🏡
After its commissioning, #NASAWebb looked at one of our neighbors: dwarf galaxy WLM. This portion of the galaxy, which shows many faint stars, demonstrates Webb’s ability to study stellar populations: https://bit.ly/3XUcn4y
Slow your scroll! Watch an animation showing how winds and light from massive stars form pillars. The pillars’ tips are the densest.
Where have you seen pillars? Show us #NASAWebb and Hubble images in the comments!
Read more: https://bit.ly/41HF2Mj
Today is #WorldPenguinDay! This infrared image from #NASAWebb, taken to mark its second year of science, shows an interaction between a distorted spiral galaxy at center, the Penguin, and the compact elliptical galaxy at left, the Egg.
Take a closer look: webbtelescope.pub/3EP21MO
Kate Genevieve
Space Telescope Science Inst.