James Webb Space Telescope Discovers a Cosmic "Question Mark"
On 26th June, the team behind the James Webb Space Telescope released an image that provides the most detailed view yet of two young stars in the process of active formation. These stars, known as Herbig-Haro 46/47, are located 1,470 light-years away from Earth and are surrounded by a disk of material that nourishes them during their growth, as reported by Space.com.
However, in the background, just below these stars, a mysterious object resembling a gigantic cosmic question mark was found. Although the nature of this object remains unknown, its color and shape offer some hints.
"Likely, it's a distant galaxy or a set of interacting galaxies, and their interaction could have resulted in the distorted shape of the question mark," stated the representatives from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI).
Other scientists also share a similar view. "The two distinctive features could easily be a merging background galaxy, with the top part of the question mark being part of a larger galaxy that is being tidally shredded. As chaotic as mergers can be, forked objects with elongated tails are quite common," explained Matt Kaplan, a physics lecturer at the University of Illinois.
The observed red color of the object in the JWST image indicates that, regardless of its nature, it is located quite far from our galaxy. Further research is planned by scientists to unravel the mysteries of this enigmatic question mark-shaped object.
Matt Kaplan also added that there are numerous other possibilities for what this object could be. However, he rules out the possibility of it being a star due to the absence of eight-spiked diffraction patterns, which appear to extend outward from stars in the images - a characteristic of James Webb Telescope's construction.
More stunning discoveries, such as this cosmic question mark, are sure to occur thanks to the JWST's capabilities to capture high-resolution images in the near-infrared range, allowing it to peer into the farthest corners of the Universe. For instance, it can detect galaxies that existed merely 420 million years after the Big Bang and are located 13.4 billion light-years away from us.
According to STScI data, the James Webb Space Telescope has published over 750 peer-reviewed scientific papers in its first year of operation.