NGC 1365 (MIRI Image)

Stsci_2023-104c_1024

stsci_2023-104c February 16th, 2023

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

Scientists are getting their first look with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s powerful resolution how the formation of young stars influences the evolution of nearby galaxies. 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 has absorbed the light from forming stars and emitted it back out in the infrared, lighting up an intricate network of cavernous bubbles and filamentary shells influenced by young stars releasing energy into the galaxy’s spiral arms.

The exquisite resolution from Webb also picks up several extremely bright star clusters not far from the core and newly observed recently formed clusters along the outer edges of the spiral arms.

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. It’s one of the largest galaxies currently known to astronomers, spanning twice the length of the Milky Way across.

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

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 1365 The Great Barred Spiral Galaxy
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Barred

Distance

Universescale2
56,000,000 light years
Stsci_2023-104c_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 3h 33m 33.3s
DEC = -36° 8’ 25.2”
Orientation
North is 175.5° CW
Field of View
3.8 x 2.5 arcminutes
Constellation
Fornax

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Webb (MIRI) Infrared 7.7 µm
Green Webb (MIRI) Infrared 10.0 µm
Green Webb (MIRI) Infrared 11.3 µm
Red Webb (MIRI) Infrared 21.0 µm
Spectrum_ir1
Blue
Green
Green
Red
Stsci_2023-104c_1280
×
ID
2023-104c
Subject Category
C.5.1.2  
Subject Name
NGC 1365, The Great Barred Spiral Galaxy
Credits
NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Lee (Noirlab), and STScI
Release Date
2023-02-16
Lightyears
56,000,000
Redshift
56,000,000
Reference Url
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-104
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Distance in lightyears
Facility
Webb, Webb, Webb, Webb
Instrument
MIRI, MIRI, MIRI, MIRI
Color Assignment
blue, green, green, red
Band
Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
7700, 10000, 11300, 21000
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
2000.0
Reference Value
53.38859143217, -36.14032139495
Reference Dimension
2037.00, 1343.00
Reference Pixel
1022.14048813002, 488.50440803129
Scale
-0.00003080730, 0.00003080730
Rotation
-175.50148187072
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
World Coordinate System resolved using PinpointWCS 0.9.2 revision 218+ by the Chandra X-ray Center FITS X FITS Y EPO X EPO Y 1016.42 1011.47 988.07 721.91 1526.76 208.60 185.39 211.57 536.69 655.42 633.01 1202.27 755.73 1820.27 1795.80 983.42 1633.06 741.88 719.51 105.85 Center Pixel Coordinates: 1018.50 53.38900335391 671.50 -36.14598108747
Creator (Curator)
STScI
URL
https://www.stsci.edu/
Name
Space Telescope Science Institute Office of Public Outreach
Email
outreach@stsci.edu
Telephone
410-338-4444
Address
3700 San Martin Drive
City
Baltimore
State/Province
MD
Postal Code
21218
Country
USA
Rights
https://www.stsci.edu/copyright
Publisher
STScI
Publisher ID
stsci
Resource ID
STSCI-J-p23104c-f-2026x1343.tif
Metadata Date
2023-02-14T07:48:55-05:00
Metadata Version
1.2
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
56,000,000 light years

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