A beacon of light in swirls of dust (MIRI)
The heart of galaxy M77 is shining so brightly in this Webb telescope image, it nearly outshines the galaxy itself. The intense glow is due to gas being pulled by the strong gravity of the central black hole into a tight and rapid orbit around it. The motion of the gas causes it to heat up, releasing tremendous amounts of radiation.
This image is Webb’s mid-infrared view with swirling filaments of dust shown in blue. The glowing orange bubbles along the arms are being carved out by newly formed star clusters.
Those bright orange lines radiating out of the center are diffraction spikes. They aren’t a physical feature of the galaxy, but an optical effect caused by the telescope itself. Observing a bright object results in the light being slightly bent (or diffracted) around the edges of the telescope primary mirror, and the struts that hold the secondary mirror. In this case, Webb’s primary mirror segments are hexagonal, and there is a tripod holding up the secondary, which gives the resulting spike effect a distinctive six-plus-two-pointed signature pattern. Hubble images will show 4 point diffraction spikes due to the different configuration.
Read more: esawebb.org/images/potm2604a/
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy
Image Description: A spiral galaxy shown in mid-infrared light. The image is dominated by an extremely bright glow from the galaxy’s nucleus. Six large and two smaller rays of light emit from the centre, which are diffraction spikes created by the telescope’s optics. The galaxy’s spiral arms are visible by two lines of glowing orange bubbles which whirl out into the disc. Swirling blue clouds of dust make up the rest of the galaxy.
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