The Vortex Galaxy is one of the most famous spiral galaxies in the sky. Amateur astronomers, on the other hand, have been sharing stunning photos of the galaxy, called the “vortex” for decades, due to its swirling structure resembling water swirling around a drain.
But now the James Webb Space Telescope has imaged the Vortex Galaxy and recorded perhaps one of its most striking images.
STUNNING DETAILS!
The image, which includes data from the telescope’s NIRCam and MIRI instruments, shows stunning detail and reveals hidden features between the spiral arms, Science Alert reported.
Like other grand design spiral galaxies, the twisting spiral arms are prominently visible.
According to the report, integrated data from the James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and the Intermediate Infrared Instrument (MIRI) reveal hot dust condensing along spiral arms that appear as dark red regions.
The bright areas along the arms and descending towards the blue-white center are defined as star forming regions.
The orange and yellow areas are also stated to show regions of ionized gas created by recently formed star clusters.
According to the information given by the European Space Agency (ESA), the Vortex Galaxy, also known as NGC 5194 or M51, is located in the constellation Canes Venatici, about 27 million light-years from Earth.