James Webb's view of the M51 galaxy

Image from preview.redd.it and submitted by Marucox
image showing James Webb's view of the M51 galaxy

wjbc on November 25th, 2024 at 23:51 UTC »

Wow! This doesn’t look real! Amazing!

Spartan2470 on November 26th, 2024 at 00:39 UTC »

Here is a much higher-quality version of this image. Here is the source. Per there:

A FEAST for the eyes (M51/Whirlpool Galaxy)

Ripple effect 🌀

Seen here is a composite image of galaxy M51 (also known as NGC 5194 also known as the Whirlpool) using both MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) and NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera) data from the Webb telescope. The gravity of M51's neighbor, the dwarf galaxy NGC 5195, is thought to be partially responsible for those prominent and distinct spiral arms!

While MIRI brings out the web-like structure of the dust in the galaxy, Webb's NIRCam focuses more on ionized gas from newly formed star clusters — as seen in the bottom left image.

These observations are part of the FEAST (Feedback in Emerging extrAgalactic Star clusTers) program, which aims to discover and study stellar nurseries in galaxies beyond our own Milky Way. Learn more: esawebb.org/images/potm2308a/

Slide between the two views here: esawebb.org/images/comparisons/potm2308/

View just MIRI: www.flickr.com/photos/nasawebbtelescope/53150967876/in/ph...

View just NIRCam: www.flickr.com/photos/nasawebbtelescope/53151185919/in/ph...

Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Adamo and the FEAST JWST team

hankfu141 on November 26th, 2024 at 00:54 UTC »

Remember imperial citizens, Cadia fell before the guard did.