The Great Barred Spiral Galaxy, Jigsaw Puzzle

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The Great Barred Spiral Galaxy:

Scientists are getting their first look at how the formation of young stars influences the evolution of nearby galaxies through NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's powerful resolution. NGC 1365, observed here by Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), is one of a total of 19 galaxies targeted for study by the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby Galaxies (PHANGS) collaboration.

In the MIRI observations of NGC 1365, clumps of dust and gas in the interstellar medium have absorbed light from forming stars and re-emitted it in the infrared, illuminating an intricate network of cavernous bubbles and filamentary shells created by young stars releasing energy into the galaxy's spiral arms.

The exquisite resolution from Webb also reveals several extremely bright star clusters not far from the core, as well as newly observed, recently formed clusters along the outer edges of the bar connecting to the spiral arms, which are only visible with Webb due to the thick dust in this region.

Additionally, the Webb images provide insights into how the orbits of stars and gas vary depending on where they form, and how this results in the population of older clusters outside the inner star-formation ring.

NGC 1365 is a double-barred spiral galaxy that lies about 56 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Fornax. It's one of the largest galaxies currently known to astronomers, spanning twice the length of the Milky Way across.

Constellation             Fornax

Distance                    56 million light-years

Exposure Dates        13 Aug 2022

Image:                        NASA, ESA, CSA, Janice Lee (NSF's NOIRLab); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)