The James Webb Space Telescope has released detailed images of 19 spiral galaxies located near our Milky Way, providing insights into star formation, galactic structure, and evolution, Reuters reports.
The images, part of the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) project, were captured using Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). The galaxies include NGC5068, about 15 million light years away, and NGC1365, about 60 million light years away.
Webb’s infrared observations, which penetrate dust clouds, reveal approximately 100,000 star clusters and millions or billions of individual stars. The images allow scientists to study the earliest phase of star formation and the structure of dust and gas clouds in galaxies with unprecedented detail.
