Webb Telescope Captures Images of 19 Spiral Galaxies
2024-02-04
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1Newly released images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope show 19 spiral galaxies relatively close to our Milky Way.
2The images offer new information on star formation, galaxy structure and evolution.
3The images were made public on Monday by a team of scientists involved in a project called Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS).
4The project operates across several major astronomical observatories.
5The closest of the 19 galaxies is called NGC5068.
6It is about 15 million light years from Earth.
7The most distant is NGC1365, about 60 million light years from Earth.
8A light year is the distance light travels in a year, which is equal to about 9.5 trillion kilometers.
9The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched in 2021 and began collecting data in 2022.
10It has shaped understanding of the early universe while taking pictures of space.
11The orbiting telescope looks at the universe mainly in the infrared.
12The Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched in 1990 and is still in use, has examined the universe mostly at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths.
13Spiral galaxies are a common galaxy type. Our Milky Way is one.
14The new observations came from Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).
15They show about 100,000 star clusters and millions, or even billions, of individual stars.
16"These data are important as they give us a new view on the earliest phase of star formation," said University of Oxford astronomer Thomas Williams.
17He led the team's data processing on the images.
18Williams added, "Stars are born deep within dusty clouds that completely block out the light at visible wavelengths - what the Hubble Space Telescope is sensitive to - but these clouds light up at the JWST wavelengths. We don't know a lot about this phase."
19About half of spiral galaxies have a straight structure, called a bar, coming out from the center.
20The spiral arms attach to this structure.
21Williams said the commonly held thought is that galaxies form from the inside out.
22That way, they "get bigger and bigger over their lifetimes."
23The images let scientists for the first time determine the structure of the clouds of dust and gas from which stars and planets form at a high level of detail.
24The images are in galaxies beyond the Large Magellanic Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud.
25Those two galaxies are near the Milky Way.
26Webb's observations build on Hubble's.
27Erik Rosolowsky is an astronomer at Canada's University of Alberta.
28He said, "Using Hubble, we would see the starlight from galaxies, but some of the light was blocked by the dust of galaxies."
29Rosolowsky added, "This limitation made it hard to understand parts of how a galaxy operates as a system. With Webb's view in the infrared, we can see through this dust to see stars behind and within the enshrouding dust."
30I'm Dan Novak.
1Newly released images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope show 19 spiral galaxies relatively close to our Milky Way. The images offer new information on star formation, galaxy structure and evolution. 2The images were made public on Monday by a team of scientists involved in a project called Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS). The project operates across several major astronomical observatories. 3The closest of the 19 galaxies is called NGC5068. It is about 15 million light years from Earth. The most distant is NGC1365, about 60 million light years from Earth. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, which is equal to about 9.5 trillion kilometers. 4The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched in 2021 and began collecting data in 2022. It has shaped understanding of the early universe while taking pictures of space. 5The orbiting telescope looks at the universe mainly in the infrared. The Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched in 1990 and is still in use, has examined the universe mostly at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths. 6Spiral galaxies are a common galaxy type. Our Milky Way is one. 7The new observations came from Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). They show about 100,000 star clusters and millions, or even billions, of individual stars. 8"These data are important as they give us a new view on the earliest phase of star formation," said University of Oxford astronomer Thomas Williams. He led the team's data processing on the images. 9Williams added, "Stars are born deep within dusty clouds that completely block out the light at visible wavelengths - what the Hubble Space Telescope is sensitive to - but these clouds light up at the JWST wavelengths. We don't know a lot about this phase." 10About half of spiral galaxies have a straight structure, called a bar, coming out from the center. The spiral arms attach to this structure. 11Williams said the commonly held thought is that galaxies form from the inside out. That way, they "get bigger and bigger over their lifetimes." 12The images let scientists for the first time determine the structure of the clouds of dust and gas from which stars and planets form at a high level of detail. 13The images are in galaxies beyond the Large Magellanic Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud. Those two galaxies are near the Milky Way. 14Webb's observations build on Hubble's. 15Erik Rosolowsky is an astronomer at Canada's University of Alberta. He said, "Using Hubble, we would see the starlight from galaxies, but some of the light was blocked by the dust of galaxies." 16Rosolowsky added, "This limitation made it hard to understand parts of how a galaxy operates as a system. With Webb's view in the infrared, we can see through this dust to see stars behind and within the enshrouding dust." 17I'm Dan Novak. 18Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by Reuters. 19_______________________________________ 20Words in This Story 21spiral - n. a circular curving line that goes around a central point while getting closer to or farther away from it 22infrared - n. producing or using rays of light that cannot be seen and that are longer than rays that produce red light 23cluster - n. a group of things or people that are close together 24phase - n. a part or step in a process 25determine - v. to officially decide especially because of evidence or facts 26dust - n. fine dry powder that builds up inside buildings on surfaces that have not recently been cleaned 27enshroud - v. to cover in a way that makes seeing or understanding difficult