The James Webb Telescope has received new images of the galaxy NGC 7469. This galaxy with an active black hole at its center is ideally located for observation — its entire plane is extended toward Earth. But the special Christmas charm of the picture was given by the image defects caused by the stretching of the telescope’s secondary mirror. Stretch marks created the effect of a six-pointed star – the festive top of a Christmas tree. Large size photo here.
The spiral galaxy NGC 7469 is 230 million light-years away from us. Previously, this object and its companion, the smaller galaxy IC 5283, were observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. Together, both galaxies form the structure of Arp 298. They are connected by gravitational interaction and actively influence each other — stealing matter and twirling the galactic tango as a pair. Observing these objects allows us to see the interaction of galaxies at great distances, as well as to study the growth of supermassive black holes using the example of a hole in the center of a larger partner.
Since James Webb is equipped with infrared observation instruments, which Hubble does not have, the image of NGC 7469 turned out to be brighter in the center – there, a lot of matter falls on the black hole, which in the process of accretion releases a lot of energy, including in the infrared spectrum.
The galaxy NGC 7469, located in the entire plane to us, allows us to see all the star formation zones in it. Combined with the perturbations of the smaller galaxy IC 5283, it is an ideal object for observing many processes in the Universe in one place. All things considered, we will return to this couple more than once.
