James Webb Space Telescope Feed Post

NGC 1087 (Hubble + Webb)

Face-on spiral galaxy, NGC 1087, is split diagonally in this image: The James Webb Space Telescope’s observations appear at top left, and the Hubble Space Telescope’s on bottom right. Webb and Hubble’s images show a striking contrast, an inverse of darkness and light. Why? Webb’s observations combine near- and mid-infrared light and Hubble’s showcase visible and ultraviolet light. Dust absorbs ultraviolet and visible light, and then re-emits it in the infrared. In Webb's images, we see dust glowing in infrared light. In Hubble’s images, dark regions are where starlight is absorbed by dust. In Webb’s high-resolution infrared images, the gas and dust stand out in stark shades of orange and red, and show finer spiral shapes with the appearance of jagged edges, those these areas are still diffuse. In Hubble’s images, the gas and dust show up as hazy dark brown lanes, following the same spiral shapes. Its images are about the same resolution as Webb’s, but the gas and dust obscure a lot of the smaller-scale star formation. More information: webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2024/105/01HM9TN2... Read the feature: science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-depicts-stagger... Full set of images: webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2024/news-2024-1... NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), Rupali Chandar (UToledo), Daniela Calzetti (UMass), PHANGS Team Image description: Two observations of the galaxy NGC 1087 are split diagonally, with Webb’s observations at top left and Hubble’s at bottom right. The galaxy’s core is roughly centered and the galaxy’s arms rotate clockwise. The spiral arms appear muddled together and it is somewhat difficult to pick out individual spiral arms. In Webb’s image, the spiral arms are composed of many filaments in shades of orange, with prominent dark gray or black “bubbles,” and the core is bright yellow, taking the shape of a short line. In Hubble’s image, the spiral arms are a mix of bright blue star clusters, pink star forming areas, and dark brown dust lanes, and the core is a pale yellow. Image & Description by NASA