NASA has released a stunning new image from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) marking the two-year anniversary of the release of its first images. And the space agency is calling it the “Penguin and Egg.”
What exactly are we looking at? Well, it’s two interacting galaxies known jointly as Arp 142 that lie 326 million light-years from Earth.
They are 100,000 light-years apart, which may sound far, but in astronomical terms, that’s very close. In contrast, our Milky Way and the closest major galaxy to us — the Andromeda galaxy — are separated by 2.5 million light years.
The Penguin and Egg galaxies made their first pass some time between 25 and 75 million years ago, NASA said in a release. This, in turned, triggered a new star formation in the Penguin.
Galactic mergers can cause galaxies to form thousands of new stars a year over millions of years. In the case of the Penguin, NASA said, research suggests that about 100 to 200 new stars have formed each year. This is many times more than what is happening in our own galaxy, where only roughly six to seven new stars form each year.
Webb’s mid-infrared view of interacting galaxies Arp 142. This image was taken by MIRI, the telescope’s mid-infrared instrument, which astronomers use to study cooler and older objects, dust, and extremely distant galaxies. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)
Before the galactic interaction, the Penguin was a spiral galaxy. Now, the centre forms the “eye” of the Penguin. The Egg, on the other hand, is an elliptical galaxy, which contains much older stars.
At the top right of the image is the PGC 1237172 galaxy, which is 100 million light-years closer to Earth, according to a release by the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md.
And, of course, in the background lie thousands more galaxies.
The gift that keeps on giving
JWST is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Unlike Hubble’s one mirror, JWST has 18 individual mirrors that make up for one giant one. That makes it a light-catching machine, allowing it see some of the faintest objects and to peer far back into the earliest times of the universe.
That’s why astronomers were so excited when this game-changing telescope was launched on Dec. 25, 2021. It was a Christmas gift headed to orbit around the moon, just waiting to be unwrapped.
The first image released blew astronomers away.
The first image released by the James Webb Space Telescope shows thousands of galaxies. (NASA)
It was the telescopes’s first wide-field image, which provided the sharpest and deepest infrared image of thousands of galaxies.
And JWST is the gift that keeps on giving, particularly to astronomers looking to better understand our universe and how we got here.
The telescope, with its massive light-collecting capability, is changing the way astronomers look at our universe. Its observations have challenged the idea of how stars form and even how fast the universe is expanding.
This image from the James Webb Space Telescope reveals a 50 light-years-wide portion of the Milky Way’s dense centre. An estimated 500,000 stars shine in this image of the Sagittarius C (Sgr C) region, along with some as-yet unidentified features. (Samuel Crowe/UVA/STScI/NASA/ESA/CSA/NASA/ESA/CSA)
“[I’m] incredibly, incredibly grateful because the pictures that we are able to see now … it was not something that we thought we will be able to see,” said Lamiya Mowla an assistant professor at Wellesley University in Wellesley, Mass.
She is one of several scientists who are part of the Canadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS).
“[Previously,] we were talking about that we will be able to resolve things down to … hundreds of light years or so, down to that level in a very, very early universe. Now, we can see that we can almost get down to tens of light years.”
Data on exoplanets a ‘game changer’
And while we don’t get the jaw-dropping images from Webb when it comes to the study of exoplanets — planets orbiting other stars — its data is proving to be incredibly helpful in understanding planetary atmospheres, especially larger planets that are more similar to our outer planets, such as Jupiter and Neptune.
“If you look at other planets like hot Jupiters, or even colder, like Neptune, or Neptune-sized planets that are a bit colder … James Webb is really a game changer,” said Olivia Lim, a PhD student at the Université de Montréal and member of the Trottier Institute for Research of Exoplanets, who’s main area of focus is the seven-exoplanet system known as TRAPPIST-1.
“People are able to measure things that we weren’t able to measure before or they’re they’re able to do it with so much more precision.”
And, of course, the telescope has also provided images of phenomena closer to home, such as a jaw-dropping image of Uranus and its rings.
This image of Uranus from NIRCam (near-infrared camera) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the planet and its rings in new clarity. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)
Mowla said that she’s incredibly grateful for JWST and what it can tell us about our own origins.
“The things that we are seeing over here is what it has taken the universe to get us to the point that we are at today, the world that we take for granted. It has spent 13.7 billion years to build this perfect Earth,” she said.
“I’m pretty sure there are habitable planets in every galaxy. We just haven’t found them yet.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
