Galaxy NGC 1433 | James Webb Space Telescope

Galaxy NGC 1433 | James Webb Space Telescope

This image taken by the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope shows one of a total of 19 galaxies targeted for study by the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby Galaxies (PHANGS) collaboration. Nearby barred spiral galaxy NGC 1433 takes on a completely new look when observed by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).

Image Description: A large galaxy takes up the entirety of the image. The core is mostly bright white, but there are also swirling, detailed structures that resemble water circling a drain. There is white and light blue colored dust that emanates from the core’s center, but it is tightly contained to the core. The rings are wispy and highlight filaments of dust around cavernous black bubbles. The dust in the outer rings contains dots that are navy blue, pinkish, reddish, and white.

NGC 1433’s spiral arms are littered with evidence of extremely young stars releasing energy and, in some cases, blowing out the gas and dust of the interstellar medium they plough into. Areas that once appeared dark and dim in optical imaging light up under Webb’s infrared eye, as clumps of dust and gas in the interstellar medium absorb the light from forming stars and emit it back out in the infrared.

Webb’s image of NGC1433 is a dramatic display of the role that dynamic processes within the forming stars, dust, and gas play in the larger structure of an entire galaxy.

At the center of the galaxy, a tight, bright core featuring a unique double ring structure shines in exquisite detail, revealed by Webb’s extreme resolution. In this case, that double ring is actually tightly wrapped spiral arms that wind into an oval shape along the galaxy’s bar axis.

NGC 1433 is classified as a Seyfert galaxy, a galaxy relatively close to Earth that has a bright, active core. The brightness and lack of dust in the MIRI image of NGC 1433 could hint at a recent merger or even collision with another galaxy.

In the image of NGC 1433, blue, green, and red were assigned to Webb’s MIRI data at 7.7, 10 and 11.3, and 21 microns (the F770W, F1000W and F1130W, and F2100W filters, respectively).

MIRI was contributed by ESA and NASA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in partnership with the University of Arizona.

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and J. Lee (NOIRLab), A. Pagan (STScI)

Release Date: Feb.16, 2023

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