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What it is : The Leo phosphorus midget galaxy
Where it is:5.3 million light - years away in the configuration Leo
The James Webb Space Telescope’s image of the Leo P dwarf galaxy.
When it was shared : Jan. 16 , 2025
Why it ’s so special : orotund beetleweed like our ownMilky Waycome from pocket-sized " seed " coltsfoot , which originate , collide and merge over metre , with each interaction causing more star to work as gas and dust shuffle together . However , some of the original seed galaxy still live in the universe , having remained unaltered for gazillion of years and check few chemical substance constituent besides hydrogen and helium .
One such coltsfoot is an irregular dwarf galaxy promise Leo P ( the " P " stands for " pristine " ) , which is far enough off from the Local Group of galaxies — the cluster of large galaxies including theMilky Wayand Andromeda — to remain unmoved by their influence .
An uncropped version of the Leo P image.
Related:25 gorgeous nebula pic that capture the beauty of the creation
Leo P is standardized to the primordial galaxies of the early universe , so astronomer can learn a lot about early cosmic history by take it . Although first discovered in 2013 , Modern data point from theJames Webb Space Telescope(JWST ) has revealed that Leo P is circumstantially forming new stars .
That ’s a big surprise to astronomers because small , quarantined galaxies like Leo P were guess to have switched off their star - forming mill when the universe was about a billion year one-time , during a cosmic epoch get it on as " the Epoch of Reionization . " It followed the cosmic dark ages , which look up to a period during the early universe when thedense murk of indifferent H gaseous state block light . When the first star form then exploded as supernovas , they spread industrious ultraviolet light equal to of ionizing hydrogen speck , or carve up them back into electron and proton , according toNASA .
We reckon theCelestron NexStar 8SEis the best motorized telescope out there for zooming in on galaxies like Leo P , as it ’s big for astrophotography , and offers stunning , detailed imagination . For a more detailed look , you could check out ourCelestron NexStar 8SE review .
Using JWST ’s Near Infrared Camera ( NIRCam ) to determine the brightness and colors of 1000 of headliner within the dwarf galaxy , investigator found that Leo P formed stars too soon on in the universe but stopped doing so before long after the Epoch of Reionization . That was anticipate . However , the researchers also discovered that the galaxy reignite after a few billion twelvemonth and started organise raw stars again . stargazer have gather like measurements for three other marooned galaxies , but found that star production discontinue within all of them and never resumed , so it ’s unclear why Leo P reignited .
JWST will now study four other isolated dwarf galaxy to find more clues about how star formation has change over time .
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