NASA Webb Telescope

Galaxy cluster formation is a messy process! Webb captured the formation of this young galaxy cluster in progress. Its two-sub-clusters have slammed through each other and travelled over a million light-years apart, repeating this process until they finally merge.

The gravity of this cluster is so strong that it can bend and focus light like a magnifying glass; the prominent orange, stretched-out arcs alongside each sub-cluster are images of distant background galaxies. esawebb.org/images/potm260…

Each sub-cluster is anchored on a bright, massive elliptical galaxy - the two brightest points in the center, with the largest glowing halos around them. Smaller white elliptical galaxies are bound to one of them by gravity, and will be incorporated into the final galaxy cluster.

Galaxy cluster formation is a messy process! Webb captured the formation of this young galaxy cluster in progress. Its two-sub-clusters have slammed through each other and travelled over a million light-years apart, repeating this process until they finally merge.

This combined view of Centaurus A from Webb in near and mid-infrared exposes a warped disk of gas and dust left behind by a collision with another galaxy billions of years ago. The grainy glow is actually a dense field of millions of individually resolved stars.

Many of the glowing red points in the MIRI image are dust-rich stars or stellar nurseries. Dust is a raw ingredient for new stars and planets and vital to the ongoing life cycle of the galaxy. At the heart of the galaxy, an actively feeding supermassive black hole shines brightly, surrounded by complex structures sculpted by a past galactic collision and ongoing activity.

July 12th is Webb’s 4th science anniversary! When we dive deeper into the familiar galaxy Centaurus A, our view becomes richer and stranger— a vivid record of cosmic history. go.nasa.gov/4wvZJYr

Though dust obscures background stars and galaxies, in @NASAHubble’s image of FS Tau (right) we can see protostar FS Tau b, its dusty protoplanetary disk, and its jet of matter (colored cyan). Compare to the Webb image on the left!

Gonna shine across that sky 🎶 In the infrared, Webb reveals bright protostars flowering from within the thick dust of the FS Tau star system. Set against a tapestry of background galaxies, this star-forming nebula is home to baby stars. science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/…

You’re a spark in the dark 🎶 Webb looked at gas giant planet WD 1856 b, which closely orbits a white dwarf - the remains of a Sun-like star. Did it survive the death of its star or did it migrate to its current location later? science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/…

@NASAHubble M82’s rapid star formation, thought to be the result of its merger with another galaxy, will only be a brief period in its history. The extreme star formation is causing plumes of material to be ejected above and below the disk of the galaxy disrupting future stellar birth.

@NASAHubble Because Webb can see infrared light, it is able to peer through clouds of dust and gas to see the shape of this edge-on galaxy, as well as approximately 16.5 million of its stars.

Webb’s new view of M82, added to archival data from @NASAHubble, is giving us a more complete picture of this starburst galaxy. science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/…

Learn more: science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/…

There’s only one planet we know of with life - our own. Getting to study objects that formed in a different system than our own is a rare opportunity for learning how common, or uncommon, the conditions are for the evolution of life elsewhere in the universe.

You might have heard of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. We don't get the opportunity to study objects like this often. Webb took a look at the comet's composition. It's showing us how unusual our own solar system might be. Here's what we've learned 👇

One well-done gas giant planet, coming right up! Webb examined a “hot Jupiter” exoplanet called HD 80606 b, with four times Jupiter’s mass, and a very elliptical orbit that sweeps close by its Sun-like star. go.nasa.gov/3QtN6xr

Webb teamed up with @NASAHubble to examine a relic from our galaxy’s formation. This object might look like a globular cluster of stars, but is actually something much odder and rarer - a “bulge fossil fragment.” science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/…