NGC 1365 (MIRI Image)

Scientists are getting their first look with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s powerful resolution at how the formation of young stars influences the evolution of nearby galaxies. NGC 1365, observed here by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is one of a total of 19 galaxies targeted for study by the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby Galaxies (PHANGS) collaboration.

As revealed by the MIRI observations of NGC 1365, clumps of dust and gas in the interstellar medium have absorbed the light from forming stars and emitted it back out in the infrared, lighting up an intricate network of cavernous bubbles and filamentary shells influenced by young stars releasing energy into the galaxy’s spiral arms.

Webb’s exquisite resolution also picks up several extremely bright star clusters not far from the core and newly observed recently formed clusters along the outer edges of the spiral arms.

Additionally, the Webb images provide insights into how the orbits of stars and gas vary depending on where they form, and how this results in the population of older clusters outside the inner star-formation ring.

NGC 1365 is a double-barred spiral galaxy that lies about 56 million light-years away from Earth. It’s one of the largest galaxies currently known to astronomers, spanning twice the length of the Milky Way.
In this image of NGC 1356, 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.

[Image Description: A large spiral galaxy takes up the entirety of the image, with the lower right portion of the galaxy’s spiral arms extending out of frame. The core of the galaxy is just off center to the lower right of the image. The bright core is an elongated oval with narrow, diffuse arms extending a short way out each narrow end of the oval. The main spiral arm to the upper left of the core is waspy and highlights filaments of dust around cavernous black bubbles.]