Centaurus A (MIRI + NIRCam image)

This combined view of Centaurus A from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope pairs observations from the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). Webb’s infrared vision exposes a warped disk of gas and dust left behind by a collision with another galaxy billions of years ago.

What may first appear as a grainy glow is actually a dense field of millions of individually resolved stars. By distinguishing different generations of stars embedded throughout the dusty centre, Webb gives astronomers new clues to the galaxy’s history and the processes that continue to shape it.

[Image description: A diagonal image of the galaxy Centaurus A stretches from the upper left to the lower right against a deep black background filled with countless tiny orange, blue, and white points of light. The galaxy is brightest at its centre with a white glowing core. A broad band of golden-orange dust cuts across the middle of the galaxy, forming a distinctive parallelogram shape. The dust in this feature is richly textured, with mottled patches, bright knots, and intricate filaments throughout. Just above the centre, delicate peach-coloured ribbons trace an S-shaped structure. Rather than appearing smooth, the galaxy has a finely speckled texture created by millions of individually resolved stars, which fill the central regions and extend into the surrounding glow. The galaxy’s outer edges dissolve into diffuse, cloud-like plumes with feathery textures that stretch beyond the dust lane. Against the surrounding darkness, several bright foreground stars display Webb’s distinctive diffraction spikes.]