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The James Webb Space Telescope has captured new details of the Phantom Galaxy in an image that reveals its spiral shape.

The photos were released by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA.

Launched into space in late 2021 and operational since July, James Webb has shown impressive images of Jupiter, nebulae and other distant galaxies, providing scientists with a wealth of never-before-seen data to analyze.

NASA has shown the first pictures of Deep Space

The image of the M74 Phantom galaxy shows its blue core and spiral shape as seen by the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).

It is the result of a collaboration between European and American scientists.

"James Webb's sharp gaze revealed fine filaments of gas and dust in the glowing spiral arms," ​​ESA notes on its website.

It is also noted that this galaxy has already been observed by the Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990 and still in operation.

The European agency, which is NASA's partner in the James Webb project, notes that the "lack of gas" allows the stars at the center of the galaxy, located about 32 million light-years from Earth, in the constellation Pisces, to be seen more clearly. .

The collected data "will allow astronomers to identify the regions of the galaxy where stars are formed, to accurately measure the mass and age of star clusters, and to better understand the nature of the tiny dust particles that drift in 'interstellar space.'

The $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope conducts its observations 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.

Last week, he first discovered the presence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, France Press recalls.

spiral galaxy