The Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope are each highly effective instruments for peering out into the cosmos, however the way in which they view the universe is kind of totally different. While Hubble primarily appears within the seen gentle wavelength in the identical vary because the human eye, Webb appears within the infrared vary which is past human imaginative and prescient. Looking on the identical object in numerous wavelengths reveals totally different options, as a just lately launched pair of picture demonstrates.

Webb and Hubble each imaged the spiral galaxy IC 5332, positioned over 29 million light-years away. Though this galaxy is simply about one-third of the scale of the Milky Way, it makes an excellent goal for astronomy as a result of the spiral is sort of completely face-on from our viewpoint. The picture captured by Webb’s ultra-cool MIRI instrument reveals the skeletal-like construction of the galaxy’s spiral arms.

Compare this picture to a picture taken by Hubble, which reveals mud as darkish patches blocking out gentle via the spiral arms.

On the ESA Webb web site there’s a slider which helps you to examine the 2 photographs straight and see the similarities and variations that they observe when trying on the identical galaxy.

The motive the galaxy appears so totally different in seen gentle versus infrared is to do with the mud unfold all through it, because the European Space Agency explains: “Ultraviolet and visible light are far more prone to being scattered by interstellar dust than infrared light. Therefore dusty regions can be identified easily in the Hubble image as the darker regions that much of the galaxy’s ultraviolet and visible light has not been able to travel through. Those same dusty regions are no longer dark in the Webb image, however, as the mid-infrared light from the galaxy has been able to pass through them.”

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