Four of the first science-quality images from NASA’s newest observatory have received a boost from X-ray vision.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) images revealed this summer instantly became iconic, but a new team-up with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory shows that despite being the most powerful space telescope yet built, JWST isn’t going to examine the universe in isolation. In fact, it may be at its most effective when paired with other instruments.
JWST is designed to see the cosmos in infrared, so its work is particularly enhanced when combined with instruments that observe space in different wavelengths of light, such as Chandra with its X-ray vision. The first images to be given an upgrade with Chandra X-ray data reveal new features that weren’t visible to JWST alone, according to a NASA statement.
Gallery: James Webb Space Telescope’s 1st photos
Consider the image of Stephan’s Quintet, in which four galaxies are locked in a complex gravitational dance while a fifth galaxy is a distant observer of this cosmic choreography.
The JWST image of these galaxies showed features that astronomers had never seen before, particularly results of their interactions like tails of gas and bursts of intense star formation. When combined with data from Chandra and NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope, the observations of Stephan’s Quintet revealed a hitherto unseen shock wave heating gas to tens of millions of degrees on any scale. This shock wave is created by one of the galaxies weaving through the others at around 2 million mph (3 million kph).
Cosmic collisions are also key to another object JWST imaged, the distant Cartwheel galaxy. This galaxy got its unique shape when it collided with a smaller galaxy 100 million years ago. As the smaller galaxy ripped through the heart of the Cartwheel galaxy, it also kick-started a bout of intense star formation. Chandra data reveals X-rays in the Cartwheel galaxy emitted from superheated gas and individual exploded stars, as well as from neutron stars and black holes that are greedily feeding on material ripped from…
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