Nasa celebrates two years of James Webb with stunning images of the ‘Penguin and the Egg’ galaxies

NASA has released a captivating image of two colliding galaxies, collectively known as "Penguin and the Egg," in honour of the James Webb Space Telescope's second anniversary. This breathtaking image provides insight into the dynamic processes that shape our universe in addition to showcasing the telescope's amazing powers. As per reports, the picture depicts the complex dance that these two galaxies are performing, demonstrating the gravitational forces that have shaped their current configurations.

The "Penguin" galaxy was formerly a spiral galaxy but has now changed to resemble a penguin, complete with head, beak, and tail that fanned out. In the meantime, the elliptical "Egg" galaxy, which is home to many old stars, has managed to hold onto its small size. The goal of the James Webb Space Telescope is to discover and investigate, as this cosmic ballet highlights.

What is the James Webb telescope? What does it do?

The James Webb Space Telescope is the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built, studying the history of our Universe from the Big Bang to the evolution of our own Solar System. It orbits the Sun 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth, capturing images of early galaxies, observing objects in our solar system, and examining planets' atmospheres.

Merging of two galaxies

The "Penguin" galaxy in this remarkable image was formerly a spiral galaxy, but its interaction with the "Egg" galaxy has caused it to undergo a drastic transformation. The Penguin's spiral arms have taken on features like a beak, head, backbone, and tail because of the gravitational forces at work; its galactic centre glows like an eye. The Penguin galaxy, which is abundant in gas and dust, goes through waves of star formation as a result of its gravitational tug-of-war with the Egg galaxy.

In contrast, the "Egg" galaxy has managed to hold onto its tight elliptical shape. The Egg galaxy is not as disrupted or as star-forming as the Penguin galaxy, with its ageing stars and significantly less gas and dust. In the event that both galaxies had been spirals, the interaction would have produced tidal tails, which are gas and star-twisted trails. It would also have led to new star formation.

NASA reported that the Penguin has not been able to devour or warp the smaller-looking elliptical Egg galaxy because of the two galaxies' nearly similar masses.

Also Read: |Delta Aquariids meteor shower: When, where and how to watch the celestial event