The James Webb Space Telescope needs no introduction. Not now when it is the star of space exploration. It’s been a few months since Webb’s foray
into space, and it has treated us to some Stunning images and visuals. So, when we have such a powerful lens pointed
toward the deepest regions of the universe, Our definition of "surprise", is bound to
be slightly altered when it comes to astronomy Pictures. It's no longer astonishing, really, when NASA's
James Webb Space Telescope reveals yet another Brilliant, ancient piece of the cosmos. At this point, our expectations are high,
and we want nothing less from the trailblazing Machine. Instead, when the telescope sends back a jaw-dropping
space image, it now draws out more of a “Webb Has Done It Again” feeling. But, still, our jaws legitimately drop every
single time. And, it has happened again. Webb strikes again. And to a pretty extreme degree this time. Last week, scientists presented Webb's brilliant
view of a galaxy cluster merging around a Massive black hole that houses a rare quasar. Yes, you heard that right. This is an incomprehensibly bright jet of
light spewing from the void's chaotic center. There's a lot going on here and the scientists
behind the find believe it could escalate Even further. Andrey Vayner, a Johns Hopkins astronomer
and co-author of a study about the image, Said in a statement: "We think something dramatic
is about to happen in these systems." What's especially fascinating about this portrait
is that the quasar here is considered to be An "extremely red" quasar, which means it's
super far away from us, and therefore physically Rooted in a primitive region of space that
falls near the beginning of time. And while the image may look like patches
of color to the untrained eye, to the trained Eye everything about the image is complex,
mesmerizing and unbelievable. And the "monster" of a black hole at its center
only makes it even more of a groundbreaking Discovery. *Orbit – Beyond the Blue* In order to understand the grandiose of what
we are witnessing, let’s deconstruct the
Image. First, we’ve got an extremely red quasar. A quasar, a special type of active galactic
nucleus (AGN), is a compact region with a Supermassive black hole at the center of a
galaxy. Gas falling into a supermassive black hole
makes the quasar bright enough to outshine All of the stars in the galaxy combined. It is extraordinarily red not just because
of its intrinsic red color, but also because The galaxy’s light has been redshifted by
its vast distance. This quasar is one of the most powerful known
galactic nuclei that’s been seen at such An extreme distance. Astronomers had speculated that the quasar’s
extreme emission could cause a “galactic Wind,” pushing free gas out of its host
galaxy and possibly greatly influencing future Star formation there. Using the observations from NIRSpec, the team
was able to confirm three galactic companions To this quasar, and show how they are connected. Archival data from the Hubble Telescope hint
that there may be even more. The three confirmed galaxies are orbiting
each other at incredibly high speeds, an indication That a great deal of mass is present. When combined with how closely they are packed
into the region around this quasar, the team Believes this marks one of the densest known
areas of galaxy formation in the early universe. We could be seeing a region where two massive
halos of dark matter are merging together. With this image, Webb has essentially uncovered
a surprising cosmic knot in the early universe. Talking about galaxy mergers, there's another
one happening as we speak. A merger like none other: A galactic merger,
between the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies. The Andromeda galaxy is the closest spiral
galaxy to the Milky Way. It is only visible as a fuzzy patch of light
in the dark skies, and can be seen only if One is consciously looking for it. The Andromeda and the Milky Way, while engaging
in a cosmic dance, will collide. The Andromeda galaxy is already in transit
and hurtling towards the Milky Way at a speed Of 70 miles (113 km) per second. The two galaxies are 2.5 million light years
from each other and hence, the collision is Likely to occur five billion years from now. And new research done on Project AMIGA (Absorption
Maps of Ionized Gas in Andromeda) in which The Hubble Space Telescope was used, has confirmed
this news.
NASA has called this the most comprehensive
study of the halo surrounding a galaxy. This is because all galaxies are ensconced
within galactic halos filled with gas, dust, And stray stars are not easily visible and
hence difficult to investigate. But these astronomers were able to measure
the size of the Andromeda galaxy by examining The amount of light it absorbed from the background
quasars. Surprisingly, they found that the Andromeda’s
halo goes far beyond its visible boundaries. In fact, they discovered that it goes as much
as half the distance to our Milky Way. That is 1.3 million light-years and even farther
in some directions up to 2 million light-years. While astronomers are finding it difficult
to measure the characteristics of the Milky Way’s halo, they believe that it would be
very similar to that of the Andromeda given Their apparent likeness. And therefore they came to the conclusion
that the faint halos of the galaxies have Started to touch one another, inevitably setting
in motion, the path towards a collision. A series of studies show that rather than
simply bypassing each other, like most cosmic Collisions do, Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies
will in fact merge to form a single elliptical Or football shaped galaxy. However, these two galaxies are not going
to be the only ones playing the game. One large galaxy in the Local Group of galaxies
or our neighbouring galaxies in the rough Distance of about 5 million light years of
space, called the Triangulum galaxy will also Join in. Although the Triangulum may not join the actual
merger, it may, at some point, strike the Milky Way while it is busy undergoing the
cosmic collision. Within the universe, galaxies are colliding
all the time. Often, when collisions happens, galaxies simply
pass each other, like two ghosts at night. This is so because the stars within the galaxies
are so far apart that collisions are almost Nearly impossible. But when Andromeda and Milky Way collide,
there will be consequences. It is predicted that the Sun will be thrown
in a new region of our galaxy. What a majestic sight it will be to behold. Sadly, none of us will be alive to watch the
cosmic dance, but aren’t we glad in a way Too?
