Scientists now have a better view than ever of the tail feathers of a certain penguin species — only the bird in question isn’t what you’d expect.
NASA scientists who operate the James Webb Space Telescope New photos revealed Images of two galaxies nicknamed the Penguin and the Egg because of their shapes and proximity to each other. The galaxies have already been photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope, but the images released Friday show stars, gas and space dust in greater clarity, according to NASA. The Penguin and Egg images also mark two years since the first groundbreaking images from the Webb telescope were released.
“Astronomers often give cute names to the objects they study because it helps us remember and keep a catalog in our brains of interacting galaxies,” says Eric Smith, program scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The penguin and the egg are a great example.”
The Penguin Galaxy, also known as NGC 2936, is a spiral galaxy that resembles a powerful Arctic bird, with a beak, a face with a bright eye, and a feather-like, slanted tail. The Egg, known as NGC 2937, lies nearby and is (in astronomical terms) an elliptical or elliptical galaxy, hence the name.
NASA says the two galaxies are locked together in a gravitational “dance” and, despite their different sizes, have roughly the same mass.
“It will continue to wobble and sway, completing several more loops before merging into a single galaxy hundreds of millions of years from now,” NASA said in a statement.
Images taken on Friday show the gas becoming brighter, appearing blue, and the Webb telescope is able to see past the dust that partially obscured the penguin’s “eye” in previous images, Smith said.
“It’s so beautiful and fun to study things in space,” Smith told USA TODAY. “It’s definitely one of my favorite images.”
This article originally appeared in USA TODAY: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows Penguin and Egg galaxies