NGC 7469 spiral galaxy, JWST image
NGC 7469 spiral galaxy, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) image. The bright object at the centre of the galaxy is an active galactic nucleus (AGN). An AGN is the extremely luminous central region of a galaxy, due to an active central supermassive black hole. Light is emitted as dust and gas fall into the black hole. NGC 7469 is located 220 million light years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. The six-pointed red star aligning with the centre of the image is an image artifact known as a diffraction spike, that is produced as light bends around the sharp edges of a telescope. Composite image obtained by the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), and Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the JWST.
Size: 4121px × 4103px
Location:
Photo credit: © Webb/NASA/CSA/L. Armus/A. S. Evans/EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -, -infrared, 7469, active, agn, artifact, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, background, black, camera, composite, diffraction, dust, galactic, galaxy, gas, hole, image, instrument, james, jwst, luminous, mid-infrared, miri, ngc, nircam, nirspec, nucleus, pegasus, space, spectrograph, spike, spiral, spiraling, spiralling, star, starry, supermassive, telescope, webb
