Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

On September 29, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope recently captured a new photo of the IC 5332 spiral galaxy in "unprecedented detail".

IC 5332 is 2900 million light-years from Earth and spans about 66 million light-years, about 1/3 of that of the Milky way. As seen by the Weber Telescope, IC 5332 has a clear view of the "skeleton" of galaxies that are usually obscured by dust.

▲ Picture Source: NASA

IC 5332 is "famous for facing almost entirely to Earth, which allows people to appreciate the symmetrical spiral arms of galaxies". To capture this image, the Weber Telescope uses the medium Infrared instrument (MIRI), which is one of the four sharp weapons used by the Weber Telescope to observe the universe.

The mid-infrared instrument is the only instrument carried by the Weber Telescope that is sensitive to mid-infrared light, which can only be observed by space telescopes. Previously, the Hubble Space Telescope used the No. 3 wide-angle camera to observe the galaxy IC 5332 in ultraviolet and visible light.

"the Hubble image shows a dark area that seems to separate the spiral arm, while the Weber image highlights more continuous entanglement that echoes the spiral arm structure," NASA said. Because different space telescopes detect different bands, the stars shown in the image are also different.

This difference is mainly caused by the galactic dust region. Interstellar dust scatters ultraviolet and visible light, so dusty areas look darker in Hubble's field of view.

By contrast, the Weber Telescope's ability to detect infrared light can penetrate interstellar dust. With the blessing of the Weber Telescope, photos of the galaxy IC 5332 reveal more information about the composition and structure of galaxies.

All instruments carried by the Weber Telescope must operate properly in extremely cold conditions, because slightly warmer objects emit infrared light, which interferes with image quality. The temperature of the mid-infrared instrument is kept at minus 266 degrees Celsius, only 7 degrees Celsius higher than absolute zero.

Recently, the Weber Telescope team is evaluating a problem with mid-infrared instruments when switching observation modes.

On August 24, staff found that friction increased during the setting of one of the medium Resolution Spectral (MRS) modes. According to NASA, "the medium-resolution spectral observation mode uses a grating wheel, in which scientists can switch between short, medium and long wavelengths for scientific observation."

Weber's team suspended the observation model while studying how to solve the problem. In addition, there is no problem with the instruments on the Weber Telescope and the other three observation modes of the mid-infrared instruments.

Weber is operated by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. The $10 billion space telescope was launched in December last year and has enough fuel to support the telescope for 20 years.

Compared with other telescopes, the Weber Telescope can observe glimmering distant galaxies through huge mirrors, deepening scientists' understanding of the origin of the universe.

The Weber Telescope released its first images in July, capturing entirely new images of the universe, such as supernovae shrouded in dust. In addition, the Weber Telescope took detailed images of Mars, Jupiter and Neptune.

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