Arp 220 (NIRCam and MIRI image)

Arp 220 (NIRCam and MIRI image)

Shining like a brilliant beacon amidst a sea of galaxies, Arp 220 lights up the night sky in this view from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Actually two spiral galaxies in the process of merging, Arp 220 glows brightest in infrared light, making it an ideal target for Webb. It is an ultra-luminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) with a luminosity of more than a trillion suns. In comparison, our Milky Way galaxy has a much more modest luminosity of about ten billion suns.

Located 250 million light-years away in the constellation of Serpens, the Serpent, Arp 220 is the 220th object in Halton Arp’s Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. It is the nearest ULIRG and the brightest of the three galactic mergers closest to Earth.

The collision of the two spiral galaxies began about 700 million years ago. It sparked an enormous burst of star formation. About 200 huge star clusters reside in a packed, dusty region about 5,000 light-years across (about 5 percent of the Milky Way's diameter). The amount of gas in this tiny region is equal to all of the gas in the entire Milky Way galaxy. 

Previous radio telescope observations revealed about 100 supernova remnants in an area of less than 500 light-years. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope uncovered the cores of the parent galaxies 1,200 light-years apart. Each of the cores has a rotating, star-forming ring blasting out the dazzling infrared light so apparent in this Webb view. This glaring light creates diffraction spikes — the starburst feature that dominates this image. 

On the outskirts of this merger, Webb reveals faint tidal tails, or material drawn off the galaxies by gravity, represented in blue — evidence of the galactic dance that is occurring. Organic material represented in reddish-orange appears in streams and filaments across Arp 220.

Webb viewed Arp 220 with its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).

Credits

Image

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Image Processing

Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

About The Object
Object Name Arp 220, IC 1127, VV 540, KPG 470, UGC 09913
Object Description Interacting Galaxies
R.A. Position 15:34:57.72
Dec. Position +23:30:05.92
Constellation Serpens
Distance 250 million light-years (100 million parsecs)
Dimensions Image is approximately 120,000 light years across.
About The Data
Data Description This image was created from JWST data from proposal: (K. Pontoppidan)
Instrument NIRCam, MIRI
Exposure Dates 2 June 2022, 4 June 2022
Filters NIRCam>F090W, F150W, F200W, F277W, F356W, F444W  MIRI> F770W, F1130W
About The Image
Color Info These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the NIRCam and MIRI instruments. Several filters were used to sample wide wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are:   Blue: F090W, F150W Green: F200W Orange: F277W + F770W Red: F356W +444W + F1130W
Compass Image A black, deep-space background is punctuated with more than a hundred randomly spaced red, white and orange galaxies in this astronomical image. These galaxies are various shapes and apparent sizes. Dominating the foreground is an object that at first appears to be a brilliant, 6-pointed, orange star surrounded by wisps of orange gas and bluish purple nebulosity. In reality, what seems to be a star is actually two colliding galaxies with merging cores. The brilliant light from the star-formation surrounding these cores creates diffraction spikes — the prominent starburst feature. Several tiny, whitish yellow regions appear almost dead center on this feature. On the outskirts of the merger are faint, grainy, nearly transparent areas that look like bluish purple clouds. Reddish orange streams and filaments appear across the foreground object.
About The Object
Object Name A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
Object Description The type of astronomical object.
R.A. Position Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
Dec. Position Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
Constellation One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
Distance The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
Dimensions The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
About The Data
Data Description
  • Proposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
  • Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.
Instrument The science instrument used to produce the data.
Exposure Dates The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
Filters The camera filters that were used in the science observations.
About The Image
Image Credit The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content.
Publication Date The date and time the release content became public.
Color Info A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.
Orientation The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere.

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