When Super-telescopes combine! Hubble & James Webb render eyewatering 'phantom galaxy'

The decades-old Hubble telescope, in collaboration with the new James Webb Space Telescope, has produced enthralling pictures of the ‘phantom galaxy’ formally known as Messier 74 (M74) or NGC 628 in different wavelengths. Lying 32 million light-years from Earth, the Phantom Galaxy is a spiral galaxy which is located in the constellation Pisces and is facing our planet. The European Space Agency (ESA), which jointly developed the Webb telescope with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), released a report detailing the new images. 

Powers of Hubble and Webb telescopes combined

(The Phantom Galaxy observed by Hubble and Webb; Image; NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI)

The image on the left above was produced by Hubble through observations in ultraviolet and visible wavelengths whereas the image on the right shows the Phantom Galaxy as observed in infrared wavelength by the Webb Telescope. A light beam turns infrared when it has travelled vast distances and gets stretched which makes them invisible. However, infrared light can be felt as heat, which is picked by the Webb telescope from different sources. 

The image in the middle is a combination of both views from Webb and Hubble which, according to ESA, gives a comprehensive view of the spiral galaxy. To peer into M74 and help astronomers learn more about the earliest phases of star formation, Webb used the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), one of its four instruments. Since Webb is perfectly capable of peering through the cosmic dust, it allows a clear view of the nuclear star cluster at M74's centre and the filaments of gas and dust in the galaxy's spiral arm are also visible.

Using Webb's new images, scientists now aim to pinpoint star-forming regions in the galaxies, accurately measure the masses and ages of star clusters, and gain insights into the nature of the small grains of dust drifting in interstellar space. Astronomers say that the M74 is one galaxy whose spiral arms are prominent and well-defined, unlike the patchy and ragged structure seen in other such galaxies. 

Apart from Webb and Hubble, the Phantom galaxy has been observed using the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) observatory and the combined data of these telescopes are expected to yield better results about the astronomical objects.