A fresh image based on brand new deep space data appears to show a wormhole spinning before our eyes.
The so-called “Phantom Galaxy” glows eerily in a new image by Judy Schmidt based on James Webb Space Telescope data collected nearly a million miles from our planet by the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on the observatory
“I’ve been doing this for 10 years and [Webb] The data is new and different and exciting,” Schmidt told Space.com. “Of course I’m going to do something with it.”
Live Updates: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope missionGallery: First photos of the James Webb Space Telescope
The image highlights the dust lanes of the galaxy, which is more properly known as NGC 628 or Messier 74. Called a “perfect spiral” by some astronomers because the galaxy is so symmetrical, the ghost galaxy is scientifically interesting because of its intermediate mass. black hole scientists believe it is embedded in its heart.
The galaxy has been photographed professionally many times before, including by space observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). What sets Webb’s images apart from these past efforts is the mid-infrared range that highlights cosmic dust, along with the power of its unique 18-segment hexagonal mirror and its location in deep space.
Webb observed M74 earlier this week. The data was also shared on Twitter (opens in a new tab) (with various leaks) by Gabriel Brammer, an astronomer at the Cosmic Dawn Center at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Denmark.
A selection of raw Webb images is made available to the public on this portal (opens in a new tab) hours or days after the observations, and scientists and amateur imagers are free to use the data as long as they credit the source when published.
The ghost galaxy, also known as Messier 74 or NGC 628, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. (Image credit: NASA, ESA and Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration)
The busy deep space telescope released its first operational images on July 12 of deep space objects, including a nebula and a glimpse of very young galaxies. An infrared view of Jupiter, along with the gas giant’s moons and rings, joined the iconic new images on July 14.
This week’s work alone shows Webb’s flexibility to switch between distant objects near the cosmic dawn – when stars first began to shine – and solar system objects much closer to his viewfinder.
As for Phantom Galaxy, Schmidt used Photoshop and FITS Liberator for most of the work, and said many of the concepts from his 2017 YouTube image tutorial (opens in a new tab) will help with today’s most advanced software.
You can see more spectacular images of Webb photos and other cosmic objects on Schmidt’s Flickr page (opens in a new tab).
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace (opens in a new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) and Facebook (opens in a new tab).