James Webb Space Telescope Feed Post

Webb Maps Full Picture of How Phoenix Galaxy Cluster Forms Stars

Webb’s infrared sensitivity has helped map the cooling gas that was a missing component in understanding the atypically high rate of star formation within the Phoenix galaxy cluster. Webb’s data was added to that from telescopes like Chandra (X-ray), Hubble (Visible), and VLA (radio), which have made previous observations of this galaxy cluster, giving astronomers a fuller picture of the gas flows within, to try to understand how they are driving such extreme star formation. Prior to Webb’s data, it was only possible to measure gas at the extreme cold and hot ends of the temperatures seen through the center of this cluster. Webb was able to detect the intermediary “warm gas.” Chandra detects the hottest gas, which is seen in purple in this image. Jets, represented in red, are sent out from the center of the cluster, inflating cavities or bubbles in the hot gas, outlined here in purple dashes. Filaments of cooler gas where stars are forming, observed by Hubble, appear in blue. The contours tracing the gas, from spectroscopic data collected by Webb, are overlaid in green. Read more: science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/webb-maps-full-picture-of-... Image credit: NASA, CXC, NRAO, ESA, Michael McDonald (MIT) Image Description: A galaxy cluster. The center of the cluster is bright white with short red jets that point toward the top right and bottom left, and several blue filaments that spread throughout the center. Outside the bright center is purple gas that is bright toward the center of the image and dimmer further from the center. There are contour lines overlayed in different colors. A key on the bottom indicates what each outline is representing. On the left side of the key, green irregular concentric lines shaped like a mountain on a topographic map are shown with the text cooling gas. Those same contours are placed overtop the center of the galaxy cluster. At the right side of the key, purple dashed lines are shaped in two ovals with the text jet-inflated bubbles. These oval outlines are place above and below the green contours at the center of the image. Image & Description by NASA