The Webb Telescope's trailblazing study of the cosmos yields new discoveries

By Ashley Sterner,

Published August 19, 2024 at 12:00 PM EDT

Messier 106 is Featured in this new image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope is also known as NGC 4258. This is a nearby spiral galaxy that resides roughly 23 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici, practically a neighbour by cosmic standards. Messier 106 is one of the brightest and nearest spiral galaxies to our own and two supernovae have been observed in this galaxy in 1981 and 2014. At its heart, as in most spiral galaxies, is a supermassive black hole, but this one is particularly active. Unlike the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, which pulls in wisps of gas only occasionally, Messier 106’s black hole is actively gobbling up material. As the gas spirals towards the black hole, it heats up and emits powerful radiation. This image was captured with Webb’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam). This observation was taken as part of a dedicated programme to study the galaxy’s Active Galactic Nucleus, the galaxy’s bright central region that is dominated by the light emitted by dust and gas as it falls into the black hole. The blue regions in this image reflect stellar distribution throughout the central region of the galaxy. The orange regions indicate warmer dust and the stronger red hues represent colder dust. The teal, green and yellow tones near the centre of the image depict varying gas distributions throughout the region. The galaxy has a remarkable feature – it is known to have two “anomalous” extra arms visible in radio and X-ray wavelengths, rather than in the visible. Unlike the normal arms, these are composed of hot gas instead of stars. Astronomers believe these extra arms result from the black hole’s activity, a feedback effect seen in other galaxies as well. They are likely caused by outflowing material produced by the violent churning of gas around the black hole, creating a phenomenon analogous to a wave crashing up out of the ocean when it hits a rock near the shore. Despite carrying his name, Mes — Messier 106 is featured in this new image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. This is a nearby spiral galaxy that resides roughly 23 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici, a neighbor by cosmic standards according to astrophysicists. Unlike the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, which pulls in wisps of gas only occasionally, Messier 106’s black hole is actively gobbling up material.

Human have long looked into the night sky and searched for signs, for meaning, in the lights twinkling above us.

And through the years, humankind developed tools to become better stargazers; from Galileo’s astronomical telescope to the Hubble Space Telescope launched into near-Earth Orbit nearly a quarter century ago.

And a couple years ago, the James Webb Space Telescope followed. Webb has high sensitivity instruments making it able to view celestial bodies much farther away than Hubble could see, and has been sending us photos and measurements leading to ground-breaking discoveries. These discoveries are shaping how the Baltimore-based scientists of the Webb Mission Office, and all humankind, understand of our cosmos.

Astrophysicist Dr. Macarena Garcia Marin joined Midday to talk about Webb’s recent discoveries. She is a European Space Agency Instrument Scientist and Project Scientist in the Webb Mission Office at the Space Telescope Science Institute here in Baltimore.

Watch as this video takes you to the farthest galaxy ever detected by #NASAWebb (so far), JADES-GS-z14-0. Read about how the scientists were able to find this galaxy, observed only 290 million years after the big bang: https://t.co/FPeBFqleGA pic.twitter.com/9LyIhBwqlM
— Space Telescope Science Institute (@SpaceTelescope) August 8, 2024