NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured a stunning image of extreme starburst galaxy Messier 82 (M82), which is located 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. At first glance, this galaxy is somewhat compact in size, yet it hosts a frenzy of star formation activity.
What kind of star formation activity? Well, M82 sprouts new stars 10 times faster than our own Milky Way galaxy. The image you see here was observed using Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument pointing towards the starburst galaxy’s center. Upon closer inspection, you’ll see small specks in green that denote concentrated areas of iron, most of which are supernova remnants. Plus, there are small patches that appear red and signify regions where molecular hydrogen is being lit up by a nearby young star’s radiation.
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M82 has garnered a variety of observations over the years because it can be considered as the prototypical starburst galaxy. Both NASA’s Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes have observed this target. With Webb’s size and resolution, we can look at this star-forming galaxy and see all of this beautiful, new detail,” said Alberto Bolatto, lead author of the study.
