Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Lee (Noirlab), and STScI

This image taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows one of a total of 19 galaxies targeted for study by the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby Galaxies (PHANGS) collaboration. Nearby barred spiral galaxy NGC 1433 takes on a completely new look when observed by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).

NGC 1433’s spiral arms are littered with evidence of extremely young stars releasing energy and, in some cases, blowing out the gas and dust of the interstellar medium they plow into. Areas that once appeared dark and dim in optical imaging light up under Webb’s infrared eye. This occurrence is explained as clumps of dust and gas in the interstellar medium absorbing the light from forming stars and emitted it back out in the infrared.

Webb’s image of NGC1433 is a strong display of how dynamic processes within the forming stars, dust, and gas play in the larger structure of an entire galaxy.

At the center of the galaxy, a tight, bright core featuring a unique double ring structure shines in exquisite detail with Webb’s extreme resolution. In this case, that ‘double ring’ is actually tightly wrapped spiral arms that wind into an oval shape along the galaxy’s bar axis.

NGC 1433 is classified as a Seyfert galaxy, meaning they are typically relatively close to Earth and have bright, active cores. The brightness and lack of dust in the MIRI image of NGC 1433 could hint at a recent merger or even collision with another galaxy.

MIRI was contributed by ESA and NASA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in partnership with the University of Arizona.

Provider: Space Telescope Science Institute

Image Source: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-104

Curator: STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA

Image Use Policy: https://www.stsci.edu/copyright