NASA releases new 'Penguin and Egg' image from James Webb Space Telescope
![This “penguin party” is loud! The distorted spiral galaxy at center, the Penguin, and the compact elliptical galaxy at left, the Egg, are locked in an active embrace. A new near- and mid-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope, taken to mark its second year of science, shows that their interaction is marked by a faint upside-down U-shaped blue glow. The pair, known jointly as Arp 142, made their first pass between 25 and 75 million years ago — causing “fireworks,” or new star formation, in the Penguin. In the most extreme cases, mergers can cause galaxies to form thousands of new stars per year, for a few million years. For the Penguin, research has shown that about 100 to 200 stars have formed per year. By comparison, our Milky Way galaxy (which is not interacting with a galaxy of the same size) forms roughly six to seven new stars per year. A bright penguin-shaped galaxy is seen with many smudges of galaxies in the background.](https://i.cbc.ca/1.7261710.1720793090!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/penguin-galaxy-jwst.jpg)
NASA is marking the two-year anniversary of the James Webb Space Telescope with a beautiful image of two interacting galaxies, which may look a little familiar.
NASA is marking the two-year anniversary of the James Webb Space Telescope with a beautiful image of two interacting galaxies, which may look a little familiar.