James Webb, the most powerful new space telescope in existence, clearly captured the blurred "ghost galaxy" along with the veteran "Hubble" who has been active for more than 30 years.
The European Space Agency (ESA) unveiled a collaboration between James Webb and Hubble on the 29th (local time). Mesier 74 (M74), a spiral galaxy 32 million light years away from Earth in the direction of Pisces, is the target of filming.
M74 is also called a "ghost galaxy" because it is not easy to observe with an amateur telescope because it has a much lower surface brightness than other spiral galaxies. However, it has a clearer spiral arm than other spiral galaxies with a partial and tattered structure, making it a good target for observation.
The ghost galaxy released by ESA is the result of combining Hubble's visible light data and James Webb's infrared data. Hubble can complement each other by looking at objects with visible light, ultraviolet light, and near-infrared light, while James Webb can even capture the faint light hidden behind gas and dust with longer wavelengths of infrared light.
ESA said, "After observing the Hubble ghost galaxy, we found a bright area where stars formed in the 'HII' region, but it was not clear. Hubble's vision is complemented by the Web's unprecedented sensitivity, he said. "You can get better insight than using a single telescope."
Images comparing Hubble and James Webb's nebula. James Webb even captured the light behind the gas and dust that was not caught in Hubble.
James Webb is a large-scale space telescope project jointly conducted by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The Web, launched on December 25 last year, is conducting an observation mission at Lagrange 2 (L2, the point where gravity between the Earth and the Sun disappears), 1.6 million kilometers from Earth. The first image was released in July.
Hubble is a veteran space telescope that was launched in April 1990 under the leadership of NASA and ESA and has been on observation missions for more than 30 years. It is still active at 610 kilometers above the Earth.
Writer: Youngjun Kim
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