A new image from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) shows that when it comes to galaxies, appearances can be deceiving.
The picture shows a serene-looking orange-red galaxy, but this cosmic spiral of gas, dust, and stars hides a violent past representing the wreckage of a massive collision between two earlier galaxies that proceeded around 500 million years ago.
The galaxy in question is NGC 3256, which lies around 120 million light-years from Earth and is a member of the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster. Hints at the chaotic past of this swirl-like galaxy are hidden within the James Webb Space Telescope image in the form of long tendrils of shining dust and stars which extend outwards from the main body of the galaxy and the brightest portions of NGC 3256.
Source: www.space.com
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