The Cigar Galaxy: M82 (Webb and Hubble image, annotated)

Annotated image of the starburst galaxy Messier 82 captured by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s ACS/WFC instruments, with compass arrows, a scale bar, and colour key for reference.

The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above).

The scale bar is labeled in light-years.

This image shows invisible near-infrared and visible-light wavelengths of light that have been translated into visible-light colours. The colour key shows which NIRCam and ACS/WFC filters were used when collecting the light. The colour of each filter name is the visible light colour used to represent the infrared light that passes through that filter.

[Image description: Annotated image of starburst galaxy Messier 82 captured by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument, with compass arrows, a scale bar, and colour key for reference. Hourglass-shaped red-orange plumes of material are shooting outward from above and below a bright blue-white, disc-shaped centre. Messier 82 is set against the black background of space, which has many distant galaxies that appear as small white and orange spirals, ovals, and points of light. Toward the right of Messier 82 is a blue-white star with eight-pointed diffraction spikes that are characteristic of Webb. Below the image is a colour key showing which of Webb’s NIRCam and Hubble’s ACS/WFC filters were used to create the image and which visible-light colour is assigned to each filter. From left to right, NIRCam filters are: F115W is blue; F200W is light blue; F335M is orange, and F444W is red. ACS/WFC filter F658N is yellow.]