NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope continues to send interesting images. The new image shared by the European Space Agency (ESA) revealed a cosmic object resembling a giant question mark in the vacuum of space. This photo quickly made waves on social media.
Could the question mark in space be a galaxy pair?
The image, released last week by the European Space Agency, shows a pair of stars in the constellation Vela. According to astronomers, it is located about 1470 light-years away and is still in the early stages of formation.
The Space Telescope Science Institute, which controls the Webb telescope, said in a statement that it is not known exactly what this star is. Researchers think it could be a distorted galaxy or the merger/separation of a pair of interacting galaxies.
The object’s distinctive red-orange hue raises the possibility of an extremely distant galaxy or galaxies. But more observations are needed to determine what the “question mark” is.
The $10 billion Webb telescope, launched in 2021, can see deeper and further back in time than any instrument before it. Last year, Webb revealed previously unseen details of the iconic Ring nebula.
As Webb probes the universe with its infrared light, it raises new questions. Astronomers expect it to make more discoveries that challenge our knowledge of space.
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