At the end of last month, the European Space Agency released a new image taken by the Webb Space Telescope, which squeezed a large number of galaxies and bright stars. Among them, there is a beautiful spiral galaxy like the Milky Way 1 billion light-years away.
In a newly released Webb image (but actually one of the first commissioned images taken), we see spiral galaxy LEDA 2046648, a billion light-years away, clear enough to identify the arms, and dotted with more Many small spiral, oval and other odd-shaped light spots are impressive.
One of the main scientific goals of the Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is to observe distant and ancient galaxies, understand their formation, evolution and composition details, and compare these ancient galaxies with modern galaxies, which will help astronomers understand how galaxies are formed step by step in today’s The structure seen by the universe.
In addition, Webb will probe the chemical composition of thousands of galaxies, elucidating how heavy elements form and accumulate as galaxies evolve. Because the other galaxies in the new image are smaller than LEDA 2046648, some are farther away, giving astronomers a deeper look into the history of the universe.
(First image source: ESA)