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Five space telescopes combine to deliver dazzling galactic views

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and James Webb Space Telescope combined to provide views like never before along with data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton (X-ray)

Posted 2023-05-23T22:57:08+00:00 - Updated 2023-05-23T22:57:08+00:00

Tony Rice

, NASA Ambassador

Images from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and James Webb Space Telescope were combined with data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and retired Spitzer Space Telescope, plus the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton space telescope to provide never before seen views of two galaxies, a nebula, and a star cluster.

Webb and Chandra space telescope views of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a star cluster in a galaxy about 200,000 ly from Earth reveal young, hot, and massive stars that send powerful winds outward from their surfaces. Credit: X-ray: Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO, XMM: ESA/XMM-Newton; IR: JWST: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI, Spitzer: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Optical: Hubble: NASA/ESA/STScI, ESO. Image Processing: L. Frattare, J. Major, and K. Arcand.

NGC 346 Star Cluster

The Small Magellanic Cloud, a star cluster in a galaxy about 200,000 light-years from Earth, is known to astronomers as NGC 346. This is a birthplace for stars.

Webb shows plumes and arcs of gas and dust that stars and planets use as source material during their formation. Chandra provides views in show above in of the remains of a supernova explosion from a massive star. The Chandra data also reveals young, hot, and massive stars that send powerful winds outward from their surfaces.

Additional data from Hubble and Spitzer is included, along with supporting data from XMM-Newton and ESO’s New Technology Telescope. (X-ray: purple and blue; infrared/optical: red, green, blue)

The bared spiral galaxy NGC 1672 was imaged in infrared light by the James Webb Space Telescope and X-ray by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Additional data from Hubble (optical light) helps fill out the spiral arms with dust and gas, while Webb data shows dust and gas in the galaxy’s spiral arms. X-ray: Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO, XMM: ESA/XMM-Newton; IR: JWST: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI, Spitzer: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Optical: Hubble: NASA/ESA/STScI, ESO. Image Processing: L. Frattare, J. Major, and K. Arcand.

NGC 1672 bared spiral galaxy

Chandra (purple) data reveals compact objects like neutron stars or black holes pulling material from companion stars, as well as the remnants of exploded stars. Additional data from Hubble (red, blue, and green) helps fill out the spiral arms with dust and gas. while Webb data (red, green, and blue) shows dust and gas in the galaxy’s spiral arms.

The Eagle Nebula (M16) as seen by the James Webb and Chandra space telescopes. The Webb image shows the dark columns of gas and dust shrouding the few remaining fledgling stars just being formed. The Chandra sources, which look like dots, are young stars that give off copious amounts of X-rays. Credit: X-ray: Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO, XMM: ESA/XMM-Newton; IR: JWST: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI, Spitzer: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Optical: Hubble: NASA/ESA/STScI, ESO. Image Processing: L. Frattare, J. Major, and K. Arcand.

Pillars of Creation (M16)

The Webb image reveals dark columns of gas and dust shrouding the few remaining fledgling stars just being formed. The young stars and the massive amounts of X-rays they give off appear as dots to Chandra. (X-ray: red, blue; infrared: red, green, blue)

Messier 74, a spiral galaxy – like our Milky Way – about 32 million light-years away, was imaged in infrared light by the James Webb Space Telescope and X-ray by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Webb outlines gas and dust in the infrared while Chandra data spotlights high-energy activity from stars at X-ray wavelengths. Hubble optical data showcases additional stars and dust along the dust lanes.Credit: X-ray: Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO, XMM: ESA/XMM-Newton; IR: JWST: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI, Spitzer: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Optical: Hubble: NASA/ESA/STScI, ESO. Image Processing: L. Frattare, J. Major, and K. Arcand.

M74 Spiral Galaxy

Messier 74, a spiral galaxy like our Milky Way, is about 32 million light-years away. Astronomers call this the "Phantom Galaxy" because it is dim and among the most difficult in Charles Messier’s famous catalog of objects in the sky to spot. Webb outlines gas and dust in the infrared while Chandra data spotlights high-energy activity from stars at X-ray wavelengths. Hubble optical data showcases additional stars and dust along the dust lanes. (X-ray: purple; optical: orange, cyan, blue, infrared: green, yellow, red, magenta).

Space telescopes like Hubble (visual), James Webb (near infrared), Spizter (far infrared) and Chandra (X-ray) look in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum to see stars (optical) through gas and dust (infrared) and high energy activity from otherwise hidden stars (X-ray) Credit Space Telescope Science Institute/Rice

Each telescope is sees into different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Only Hubble's view of the visible spectrum is perceptible by the human eye. The others use infrared to bring into view the gas and dust that give birth to stars and planets and evidence of black holes robbing nearby stars of material (James Webb and Spitzer) and X-ray to see high energy coming from newly formed stars along with the remnants of stars at the end of their lives (Chandra and XMM-Newton).

Data outside the visible spectrum are mapped to colors that humans can perceive. The European Southern Observatory’s ground based New Technology Telescope was also used in creating these images.