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Featured in this NASA\/ESA\/CSA James Webb Space Telescope\u202fPicture of the Month\u202fis the\u202fspiral galaxy\u202fNGC 2090, located in the constellation Columba. This combination of data from Webb\u2019s\u202fMIRI\u202fand\u202fNIRCam\u202finstruments shows the galaxy\u2019s two winding spiral arms and the swirling gas and dust of its disc in magnificent and unique detail.\u00a0<\/p>\n
NGC 2090 was one of many galaxies studied by the NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope\u00a0to refine\u202fthe measurement of the Universe\u2019s expansion rate, or \u2018Hubble constant\u2019. This can be done by\u202fobserving\u00a0a special type of variable stars named \u2018Cepheids\u2019 in\u00a0relatively nearby galaxies. The\u00a0Cepheid-based measurement, conducted in 1998, determined NGC 2090 to be 37 million light-years away from Earth. In contrast, according to the newest measurements,\u00a0NGC 2090 should be slightly farther away, at 40 million light-years. To this day, Hubble is surveying galaxies in visible and ultraviolet light; alongside this Webb image a new Hubble image of NGC 2090 has also been published this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Already before that Hubble project in 1998, NGC 2090 had been well studied as a very prominent nearby example of star formation. Described as a \u2018flocculent\u2019 spiral, this galaxy has\u00a0a patchy, dusty disc and arms that are flaky or not visible at all. We can see those patterns well in Hubble’s visible-light images. However, Webb\u2019s NIRCam\u00a0near-infrared data reveal the spiral arms with remarkable clarity. NIRCam also picks up bright light from stars, displayed in blue and most visible in the galaxy’s centre. At the same time, Webb\u2019s MIRI captures the mid-infrared light from the\u00a0carbon-based compounds\u00a0along the many strands of gas and dust. This MIRI data is pictured\u00a0as red in the Webb image.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These data on NGC 2090 were collected as part of an observing programme (#3707) capturing many similar nearby massive, star-forming galaxies. These galaxies are located at just the right distance\u00a0and have a good level of activity, so that Webb\u2019s instruments can capture a\u00a0detailed picture of their star-forming activity. This gives us a unique insight into the tightly-bound clusters\u00a0of young stars\u00a0and\u00a0clouds of gas within the galaxies\u00a0in which stars are born. The rich collection of detailed images like this one will be of value to astronomers studying star formation for years to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n
[Image Description:\u202fA spiral galaxy with a wide, oval-shaped disc. It has a shining spot at the centre from which two curving, pale red spiral arms emerge, wrapping once each around the galaxy. They\u2019re surrounded by a whirl of bright threads and patches of dust, with spots of star formation scattered throughout. The glow of the disc fades smoothly into the background where some patches of dust can be seen, as well as foreground stars.]\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n