Orb 220, uma galáxia infravermelha ultraluminosa em fusão capturada pelo Telescópio Espacial James Webb, mostra evidências claras de sua luminosidade de trilhões de sol, formação massiva de estrelas e dança galáctica contínua. Crédito: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Processamento de imagem: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
Uma visão deslumbrante do nascimento de estrelas capturada em infravermelho
Uma impressionante colisão de duas galáxias espirais brilha no infravermelho com a luz de um trilhão de sóis. Coletivamente conhecidas como Orb 220, as galáxias em colisão desencadearam uma explosão massiva de nascimento de estrelas. Cada um dos núcleos interestelares conectados é cercado por um anel rotativo de formação estelar, que emite a luz brilhante que Webb capturou no infravermelho. Essa luz brilhante cria um recurso de explosão estelar proeminente e pontiagudo.
O Telescópio Espacial James Webb capturou esta imagem impressionante de Orb 220, uma galáxia infravermelha ultraluminosa (ULIRG) formada pela fusão de duas galáxias espirais. Localizado a 250 milhões de anos-luz de distância no aglomerado Serpentine, tem a luminosidade de um trilhão de sóis, em comparação com os dez bilhões da Via Láctea. A colisão desencadeou uma formação massiva de estrelas, com cerca de 200 aglomerados massivos de estrelas em uma pequena região empoeirada contendo o gás equivalente a toda a Via Láctea. O telescópio revelou os centros das galáxias-mãe, cada uma com um anel rotativo de formação de estrelas responsável por atingir a luz infravermelha. A imagem também mostra fracas caudas de maré e matéria orgânica, evidência da fusão galáctica em curso. Crédito: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Processamento de imagens: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
Web Space Telescope captura espetacular fusão galáctica Orb 220
Brilhando como um farol brilhante em meio a um mar de galáxias, Orb 220 ilumina o céu noturno nesta cena.[{” attribute=””>NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Actually, two spiral galaxies in the process of merging, Arp 220 glows brightest in infrared light, making it an ideal target for Webb. It is an ultra-luminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) with a luminosity of more than a trillion suns. In comparison, our Milky Way galaxy has a much more modest luminosity of about ten billion suns.
Located 250 million light-years away in the constellation of Serpens, the Serpent, Arp 220 is the 220th object in Halton Arp’s Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. It is the nearest ULIRG and the brightest of the three galactic mergers closest to Earth.
The collision of the two spiral galaxies began about 700 million years ago. It sparked an enormous burst of star formation. About 200 huge star clusters reside in a packed, dusty region about 5,000 light-years across (about 5 percent of the Milky Way’s diameter). The amount of gas in this tiny region is equal to all of the gas in the entire Milky Way galaxy.
Image of Arp 220 captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.
The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above).
The scale bar is labeled in light-years, which is the distance that light travels in one Earth-year. (It takes 18,000 years for light to travel a distance equal to the length of the bar.) One light-year is equal to about 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers. The field of view shown in this image is approximately 120,000 light-years across.
This image shows invisible infrared wavelengths of light that have been translated into visible-light colors. The color key shows which filters were used when collecting the light. The color of each filter name is the visible-light color used to represent the infrared light that passes through that filter.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
Previous radio telescope observations revealed about 100 supernova remnants in an area of less than 500 light-years. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope uncovered the cores of the parent galaxies 1,200 light-years apart. Each of the cores has a rotating, star-forming ring blasting out the dazzling infrared light so apparent in this Webb view. This glaring light creates diffraction spikes — the starburst feature that dominates this image.
On the outskirts of this merger, Webb reveals faint tidal tails, or material drawn off the galaxies by gravity, represented in blue — evidence of the galactic dance that is occurring. Organic material represented in reddish-orange appears in streams and filaments across Arp 220.
Webb viewed Arp 220 with its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s leading space science observatory is the James Webb Space Telescope, and was designed to unravel the mysteries of our solar system and explore distant worlds around other stars. Moreover, it aims to investigate the enigmatic structures and origins of our universe, and our position within it. This international program is spearheaded by NASA in collaboration with its partners, namely, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency.
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