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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration keeps sharing amazing pictures from space. The US space agency recently shared a shocking picture in which two interacting galaxies are seen forming a penguin and an egg-like shape in space. This picture was shared on the occasion of the second science anniversary of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is one of those high-definition telescopes that continuously makes observations from space, including images and highly detailed data called spectra. Several images processed from the data provided by the James Webb Space Telescope have received a lot of appreciation from netizens.
Penguin and egg in space
This vague penguin-like figure is a warped spiral galaxy located millions of light-years from Earth. The spiral galaxy is affected by the gravitational pull of another galaxy located next to it. This galaxy appears to be shaped like an egg. The near and mid-infrared image combines data from NIRCam (near-infrared camera) and MIRI (mid-infrared instrument) of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
The interacting galaxies are collectively known as Arp 142. According to the US space agency, they first passed each other between 25 and 75 million years ago, causing “fireworks” or new star formation in the Penguin. Both galaxies have similar masses, which is why one hasn’t swallowed up the other.
What are interacting galaxies?
According to the American Museum of Natural History, when galaxies pass close to each other or collide, their shapes are distorted due to mutual gravity. Because of this phenomenon, they are called interacting galaxies.
Internet reacts to ‘penguin and egg’ photo
Many social media users expressed joy and surprise over the new photo shared by NASA.
“This is amazing. Thanks for posting. The universe is amazing,” a social media user commented on the photo shared by NASA.
Another user wrote, “Amazing, but I can’t believe how to spot two galaxies out of two trillion galaxies separated by a megaparsec.”
“The space bird looks even more spectacular.”
“Thank you for the wonders and beautiful photos from space.”
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Published: July 15, 2024, 03:11 PM IST
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