Image A: Galaxy GS-NDG-9422 (NIRCam Image) (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Image A: Galaxy GS-NDG-9422 (NIRCam Image)

Caption

What appears as a faint dot in this James Webb Space Telescope image may actually be a groundbreaking discovery. Detailed information on galaxy GS-NDG-9422, captured by Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument, indicates that the light we see in this image is coming from the galaxy’s hot gas, rather than its stars. Astronomers think that the galaxy’s stars are so extremely hot (more than 140,000 degrees Fahrenheit, or 80,000 degrees Celsius) that they are heating up the nebular gas, allowing it to shine even brighter than the stars themselves.

 

Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Alex Cameron (Oxford)

Usage Restrictions

No restrictions.

License

Public Domain

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.