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‘Cosmic hug:’ NASA releases new photo of galaxies that look like penguin guarding egg

By WSBTV.com News Staff

NASA releases new image of penguin-shaped galaxy Arp 142, two interacting galaxies, observed in near- and mid-infrared light. At left is NGC 2937, nicknamed the Egg. Its center is the brighter and whiter. There are six diffraction spikes atop its gauzy blue layers. At right is NGC 2936, nicknamed the Penguin. Its beak-like region points toward and above the Egg. Where the eye would be is a small, opaque yellow spiral. The Penguin’s distorted arms form the bird’s beak, back, and tail. The tail is wide and layered, like a beta fish’s tail. A semi-transparent blue hue traces the Penguin and extends from the galaxy, creating an upside-down U over top of both galaxies. At top right is another galaxy seen from the side, pointing roughly at a 45-degree angle. It is largely light blue. Its length appears approximately as long as the Egg’s height. One foreground star with large, bright blue diffraction spikes appears over top of the galaxy and another near it. The entire black background is filled with tiny, extremely distant galaxies. (NASA)

By WSBTV.com News Staff

WASHINGTON, D.C. — NASA released a new image from the James Webb Space Telescope on Friday morning to mark the second anniversary of Webb’s science operations.

They say the photo shows two galaxies, one that looks like a penguin and another that looks like the egg its guarding. They described the galaxies as being intertwined in a “cosmic hug.”

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Researchers say the two galaxies first passed one another between 25 and 75 million years ago, and hundreds of millions of years from now they’ll slowly merge into a single galaxy.

It’s estimated that the penguin and the egg are about 100,000 lightyears apart.

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The Webb Telescope first launched in 2021 and is the largest and most powerful telescope in the world, according to NASA.

“In just two years, Webb has transformed our view of the universe, enabling the kind of world-class science that drove NASA to make this mission a reality,” said Mark Clampin, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters.

Back in December, the Webb Telescope gave stargazers an inside look at an exploded star.

Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera, or NIRCam, gives scientists the ability to see the remnant in various wavelengths, producing the detail in the images. Earlier, Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI, had taken images of Cassiopeia A in April, Smithsonian Magazine reported. They looked different than the latest ones, with features appearing in one version but invisible in others, according to CNN.

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