NASA’s Webb, Hubble Examine Galaxy Pair

I always feel like somebody’s watching me 👀

Happy Halloween from @NASAWebb and @NASAHubble! This terrifying new image combines data from both telescopes, unveiling a scary pair of “eyes” in space.

These eyes are actually the cores of two galaxies. The smaller spiral galaxy on the left is IC 2163. It has been slowly “creeping” behind the larger galaxy, NGC 2207.

It’s possible this pair will swing by one another repeatedly over the course of many millions of years. Their cores and arms might eventually meld, leaving behind completely reshaped arms, and an even brighter cyclops-like “eye” at the core.

These galaxies are busy places! In just one Earth year,they can form the equivalent of two dozen new stars that are the size of our Sun. That’s a lot compared to our Milky Way, which only forms the equivalent of two or three new Sun-like stars per year.

This image’s macabre colors are produced by combining mid-infrared light from Webb with ultraviolet and visible light from Hubble!

Read more: go.nasa.gov/3Uy0f7t

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, galaxies take the shape of a colorful beaded mask that sits above the nose. The galaxy at left, IC 2163, is smaller, taking up a little over a quarter of the view. The galaxy at right, NGC 2207, takes up half the view, with its spiral arms reaching the edges. IC 2163 has a bright orange core, with two prominent spiral arms that rotate counter clockwise and become straighter towards the ends, the left side extending almost to the edge. Its arms are a mix of pink, white, and blue, with an area that takes the shape of an eyelid appearing whitest. NGC 2207 has a very bright core. Overall, it appears to have larger, thicker spiral arms that spin counter clockwise. This galaxy also contains more and larger blue areas of star formation that poke out like holes from the pink spiral arms. In the middle, the galaxies’ arms appear to overlap. The edges show the black background of space, including extremely distant galaxies that look like orange and red smudges, and a few foreground stars.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

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Taken on: October 31, 2024

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Sets appears in: • Webb Images/Science 2024

Stats: 48,078 views / 2 comments

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