JWST captures beautiful star-forming clouds in other galaxies
- February 17, 2023
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A lot happens in the space between the stars. Tiny dust and gases that fill the spaces there sometimes come together to form dense clouds. It is here
A lot happens in the space between the stars. Tiny dust and gases that fill the spaces there sometimes come together to form dense clouds. It is here that stars are born, formed from knots of material that collapse and ignite under the influence of gravity, illuminating the universe.
The process of star formation, shrouded in fog, still remains a mystery. But with unprecedented resolution in the infrared wavelength range, JWST sees things our eyes can’t. Images from the space telescope are used to unravel the mysteries of how and where star formation occurs in 19 nearby spiral galaxies and to map the gas and dust swirling around.
The project is called High Angular Resolution Physics in Nearby Galaxies (PHANGS), and a special issue of 21 papers summarizing initial findings for four of these galaxies has been published. Astrophysical Journal Letters.
“With JWST, you can create incredible, very high-resolution maps of nearby galaxies that provide incredibly detailed images of the interstellar medium,” says physicist Karin Sundstrom of the University of California at San Diego.
The reason JWST can see parts of galaxies that are opaque to other telescopes is not only because it’s the most powerful space telescope, but also because it sees the universe in the infrared. Light with shorter wavelengths, such as optics, is scattered by small particles and therefore does not usually pass through thick clouds. Longer wavelengths such as infrared have a much better chance of passing through dust unhindered.
Previous infrared space telescopes like Spitzer have hinted at infrared treasures hidden within these clouds, but the JWST’s impressive resolution gives us an unprecedented view from the inside.
The PHANGS project was specifically designed to do this by examining 19 samples of nearby spiral galaxies with properties similar to the Milky Way, and are oriented through space so we can look at them face-to-face. This orientation means we get the best overview of the distribution of dust and gas in galaxies and can more precisely determine where star formation is occurring.
Source: Port Altele
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