NASA Photo Shows once-invisible spiral galaxies

According to NASA’s release, the data collected from the Webb telescope has enabled the collection of 21 research papers that provide new insight into the impact of star formation on the evolution of galaxies.

The telescope has already captured images of three galaxies: a gray spiral galaxy with a bright white, circular core; a gray, web-like spiral galaxy with eight red diffraction spikes extending out from its extremely bright core and colorful dots in the background that represent background galaxies; and a close-up shot of a wispy spiral galaxy with tiny red dots throughout the image that represent background galaxies.

The clarity with which scientists are able to see the fine structure of these galaxies has surprised them, and they are excited about the telescope’s ability to pierce through gas and dust clouds to capture images of faraway galaxies.

The data has already provided new insights into how star formation impacts the evolution of galaxies, and scientists are continuing to observe more galaxies with the telescope.