2023-08-11 08:34:34
A year after its commissioning, the pictures provided by the James Webb telescope, positioned 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, are fascinating. On June 26, 2023, the European Space Agency (ESA) released a very detailed image of two of the most famous stars in our galaxy (Herbig-Haro 46/47). But zooming in on the image considerably, the scientists got a surprise. An unusual shape appeared in the middle of the space: a question mark!
“It is not a message left to us by the Universe, there is a completely rational explanation, explains Dr Dominique Sluse, astrophysicist at the University of Liège. This is a visual illusion effect”, specifies the scientist.
A phenomenon of pareidolia
This optical effect would be caused by two galaxies merging with each other. “Galaxies are massive, they attract each other, and sometimes they end up interacting. There, there is the second galaxy which is probably being cut into pieces by the first, which undoubtedly corresponds to the point of the question mark”, explains Dominique Sluse.
The fact that we see this in the shape of a question mark is a phenomenon that has a name: pareidolia. “Our brain tends to associate the shapes we see with objects. Like when you see the shape of a sheep in the clouds”, specifies the astrophysicist. “Here, we see an image of the sky and we interpret it with what we know,” he concludes. Watch our video at the top of the article.
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