{"id":308504,"date":"2026-02-24T23:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T23:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/308504\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T23:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T23:24:08","slug":"webb-focuses-on-spiraling-star-factory-ngc-5134","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/308504\/","title":{"rendered":"Webb Focuses on Spiraling Star Factory: NGC 5134"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Astronomers using the <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/webb\/about-overview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">NASA\/ESA\/CSA James Webb Space Telescope<\/a> have produced a spectacular infrared image of the spiral galaxy NGC 5134.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.sci.news\/images\/enlarge13\/image_14579e-NGC-5134.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-108622\" class=\"wp-image-108622 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image_14579-NGC-5134.jpg\" alt=\"This Webb image shows NGC 5134, a spiral galaxy some 65 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. Image credit: NASA \/ ESA \/ CSA \/ Webb \/ A. Leroy.\" width=\"580\" height=\"580\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-108622\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This Webb image shows NGC 5134, a spiral galaxy some 65 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. Image credit: NASA \/ ESA \/ CSA \/ Webb \/ A. Leroy.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/simbad.cds.unistra.fr\/simbad\/sim-id?Ident=NGC+5134\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">NGC 5134<\/a> is located approximately 65 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo.<\/p>\n<p>Otherwise known as ESO 576-52, LEDA 46938 or IRAS 13225-2052, this galaxy was <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/NGC_5134\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">discovered<\/a> by the German-British astronomer William Herschel on March 10, 1785.<\/p>\n<p>NGC 5134 is a member of the NGC 5084 group, a group of five galaxies that also includes NGC 5084, NGC 5087, ESO 576-50 and ESO 576-40.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause of the galaxy\u2019s relative proximity, Webb can spot incredible details in its tightly wound spiral arms,\u201d the Webb astronomers said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The new image of NGC 5134 includes both infrared observations from both Webb\u2019s Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) and the telescope\u2019s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMIRI collects the mid-infrared light emitted by the warm dust that speckles NGC 5134\u2019s interstellar clouds, tracing clumps and strands of dusty gas,\u201d the astronomers said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of the dust is composed of complex organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which feature interconnected rings of carbon atoms and provide a way for astronomers to study the chemistry happening in interstellar clouds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNIRCam records shorter-wavelength near-infrared light, mostly from the stars and star clusters that dot the galaxy\u2019s spiral arms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTogether, the MIRI and NIRCam data paint a portrait of a galaxy in constant ebb and flow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe gas clouds that billow along NGC 5134\u2019s spiral arms are the sites of star formation, and each star that forms chips away at the galaxy\u2019s supply of star-forming gas,\u201d the researchers said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen stars die, they recycle some of that gas back into the galaxy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMassive stars more than about eight times the mass of the Sun do so spectacularly, in cataclysmic supernova explosions that spread stellar material across hundreds of light-years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStars like the Sun give back some of their material as well, though more gently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese stars will balloon into bubbling red giants before shrugging off their atmospheres and sending them into space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhether expelled by explosive supernovae or gentle red giants, this gas can then be incorporated into new stars.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Astronomers using the NASA\/ESA\/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have produced a spectacular infrared image of the spiral galaxy&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[6796,6797,1745,85,35963,46,3442,154890,141,26630,31664,6801],"class_list":{"0":"post-308504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-csa","9":"tag-esa","10":"tag-galaxy","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-ir","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-nasa","15":"tag-ngc-5134","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-spiral-galaxy","18":"tag-star-formation","19":"tag-webb"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}