Located 220 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus, spiral galaxy NGC 7469 orbits an active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is one of the best-studied galaxies in our universe, but James Webb Space Telescope created one of the most detailed photographs ever galaxies in the form of a wreath never seen before.

Because NGC 7469 is right in front of us, astronomers can observe its entire 90,000 light-year range. Of particular interest is its AGN, a bright region at its center where dust and gas glow as it is absorbed by a supermass. black hole Galaxies The structure is not unusual, but what is unusual is that NGC 7469 has a starburst ring at an extremely close distance, just 1,500 light-years from the AGN. Because so much material was collected in a relatively small space, it was difficult for scientists to look at the AGN and the starburst surrounding it. But now that has changed with Webb’s ultra-sensitive infrared devices.

Spiral galaxy NGC 7469 as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope for the Great Observatory’s LIRG Survey (GOALS) (Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, L. Armus, AS Evans)

This image captured new details in AGN NGC 7469, including “never seen before very young star-forming clusters, as well as pockets of very hot turbulent molecular gas and direct evidence of the collapse of tiny dust particles within a few hundred light-years.” of the kernel”. – it is called in the message from the European Space Agency (ESA), partner of the observatory.

In this image, Webb also captured jets of ionized atomic gas moving from the core at about 4 million miles per hour (6.4 million kilometers per hour). While scientists already know about the galactic flow, this image marks the first time they’ve been able to see it so clearly.

And by the way, the hexagonal starburst that seems to come from the center of the galaxy? Technically, this does not exist. This is what scientists call image artifact, or more specifically, diffraction amplification, a pattern that forms in an image when light is bent from the edges of telescopes. Webb’s images are characterized by hexagonal diffraction spikes, characteristic of the observatory’s hexagonal mirror. The scientists hope to use similar images to study the relationship between AGN and starburst activity.