In its latest, NASA's James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes teamed up to study a massive galaxy cluster and unveil the most spectacular image of the Universe. The space agency took to social media to share the stunning image of the galaxy cluster, located 4.3 billion light-years away. According to NASA, a galaxy cluster is any number of galaxies that are gravitationally coupled to each other. They are the largest known objects in the Universe.
Hubble & Webb united to create most colourful views of our Universe
According to NASA, the image reveals multiple insights that could only be obtained by combining the capacity of both satellite telescopes. In its post, NASA wrote, "@NASAHubble and @NASAWebb collaborated to create one of the most colourful views of our Universe ever. This is MACS0416, a galaxy cluster located 4.3 billion light-years away."
According to NASA, the Hubble Space Telescope sees primarily in visible light, but the James Webb Space Telescope sees mainly in infrared. NASA further explains that the hues of the photos can reveal more about galaxy distances. NASA's captioned the image stating, "Bluer coloured galaxies are relatively nearby and often show intense star formation, which Hubble best observes, while the redder galaxies tend to be more distant, or else contain a lot of dust, as detected by Webb."
.jpg)
Image comprises hundreds of galaxies
Furthermore, NASA stated that the combined image is one of the most comprehensive views of the Universe ever clicked. Additionally, the MACS0416 image contains hundreds of entirely unrelated galaxies in the background.
MACS0416 image called Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster
In his blog, Haojing Yan from the University of Missouri in Columbia said, "We're calling MACS0416 the Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster because it's so colourful and has these flickering lights within it. We can see transients everywhere."
This collaboration between Webb and Hubble provides a breathtaking vision of the cosmos and greatly contributes to our understanding of galaxy creation and evolution. The discovery of several transients suggests regular monitoring with Webb could reveal many more events in this and other clusters. Astronomers are utilising the latest observations to find detailed stars that would otherwise be hidden and supernovae magnified by the gravity of larger celestial objects.
