by |
Khaled Younes |
Monday October 31 2022 – 06:09 PM
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured a stunning new image that shows two galaxies colliding, sparking a wave of star formation invisible to other telescopes.
The star birth wave was created by the encounter of the two galaxies known by the common name IC 1623, and scientists said that the merging pair is producing stars at a rate 20 times faster than our Milky Way.
This amazing event is known as a “galactic merger”, which creates a fascinating display of star formation. These merging galaxies may be in the early stages of forming a supermassive black hole.
The galactic clash was previously imaged by other telescopes, including James Webb’s predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, which specializes in detecting optical light (the types of wavelengths visible to the human eye).
But because IC 1623 is wrapped in a thick shield of dust, astronomers have not been able to delve deeper into galaxies to see the stars forming.
This is a remarkable achievement in astrophotography so early in the James Webb Space Telescope mission, given that it was only launched in December of last year.
The European Space Agency said: “A dense dust beam prevented these valuable insights from the perspective of telescopes like Hubble. However, James Webb’s infrared sensitivity and impressive accuracy at those wavelengths allow him to see beyond the dust, resulting in a stunning image. The two galaxies in IC 1623 sinks into each other in a process known as “galaxies merging”, according to “Russia Today”.
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IC 1623 is located about 274 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus, which means that it took light about 270 million years to travel to the James Webb Space Telescope. And so the state in which we see these galaxies is as it was all that time, and therefore we see through them the past time.
This “galactic pair” was first discovered on November 19, 1897, by American astronomer Louis Swift.
Also known as Arp 236, ESO 541-23 and IRAS 01053-1746, it consists of two irregular galaxies: IC 1623A and IC 1623B.
IC 1623 is extremely bright when observed in the infrared, and has long been of interest to astronomers.
One of the two galaxies, the bright infrared galaxy, IC 1623B, contains a large amount of warm, dense gas. There is also a warm, dense gas in the interference region that connects the two nuclei.
The European Space Agency explained that “the continuous intense starburst causes intense emission of infrared radiation. The merging galaxies may be in the process of forming a supermassive black hole.”
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