Merger of the Penguin and the Egg galaxies
Yesterday, NASA published a picture taken by the James Webb Space Telescope of two galaxies, one called the Penguin and the other the Egg, in the process of merging as if it were a cosmic ballet at a time when the American agency is celebrating the two-year anniversary since it unveiled the first scientific results. For space telescope
Webb launched into space in 2021 and began collecting data the following year. The space telescope reshaped the understanding of the early stages of the universe by capturing stunning images
The two galaxies that were photographed are located 326 million light-years from Earth in the Hydra constellation. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, which is 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion kilometers).
Since Webb began operating, the telescope has observed galaxies teeming with stars that formed within a few hundred million years of the Big Bang event that launched the universe about 13.8 billion years ago.
The two mingling galaxies are known as Arb 142. They appear in the images amidst a haze of stars and gas slowly merging.
Source: websites