NASA released a series of mind-blowing images of 19 nearby spiral galaxies Monday and you just have to see them!
NASA is right: It is “oh-so-easy to be absolutely mesmerized” by the recent spate of images of spiral galaxies captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Each image contains “clearly defined arms” of the galaxies, each “brimming with stars” and sometimes “active supermassive black holes.”
The images are part of the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby Galaxies (PHANGS) program, which is run by more than 150 astronomers around the world. The program has been around since before the JWST, but the software within the next probe offers researchers a much clearer look at the skies around us.
Go on, give these a whirl.
Webb just released highly detailed images of 19 spiral galaxies! These observations add new near and mid-infrared puzzle pieces to the PHANGS program, a worldwide astronomy project: https://t.co/TBNbkzUJ7p pic.twitter.com/ioYKrQPW6W
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) January 29, 2024
“Webb’s new images are extraordinary,” Space Telescope Science Institute project scientist Janice Lee told NASA. “They’re mind-blowing even for researchers who have studied these same galaxies for decades. Bubbles and filaments are resolved down to the smallest scales ever observed, and tell a story about the star formation cycle.”
🤩✨ The NASA/ESA/CSA James #Webb Space Telescope has uncovered a treasure trove of 19 spiral galaxies!
This new set of exquisite images show stars, gas, and dust on the smallest scales ever observed beyond our own galaxy.
To see all the images 👉 https://t.co/lqV9ThtVUZ pic.twitter.com/C0ckUesTNg
— ESA (@esa) January 29, 2024
New Galactic Images from the James Webb Space Telescope – A dozen combination photos from both NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope, showcasing some of Webb’s newest infrared views showing the structure of spiral galaxies. https://t.co/NnWhmnOLB8 pic.twitter.com/OoUi5rPKZq
— The Atlantic Photo (@TheAtlPhoto) January 30, 2024
Even though we know more about space than we technically know about our oceans, there is something unendingly mysterious about the cosmic realm around us. While it’s easy for most scientists to point at something in space and provide an explanation, much of what we think we know is still based on theory. (RELATED: Recovered Meteorite Could Be Alien Technology, Harvard Astrophysicist Claims)
I cannot wait to see how these theories of the cosmos evolve over the rest of our short lifetimes. Let’s just pray something doesn’t come hurtling through our solar system, smashing us back to the Dark Ages, before we can figure out what is really going on out there.