NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to double down on THIS galaxy once observed by Hubble

NASA has released a picture of a massive merging galaxy which it says is one of the subjects the James Webb Space Telescope would study. Dubbed NGC 3256, the galaxy is one of the four galaxies that were once observed by the Hubble Space Telescope and are next on Webb's radar. NASA says that through its more sensitive, with sharper observations in infrared light, Webb would be able to see through the dust of these galaxies and would yield high-resolution data thus allowing scientists to learn more about what's happening at the galactic core. 

More about Webb's next target

The galaxy NGC 3256 has been found to house two nuclei at its centre and one is largely hidden by dark bands of dust. According to NASA, strong galactic winds emerge from both its nuclei, but their properties are largely unknown and this calls for infrared observations which are essential to fully understand where stars are forming and where black holes may lie. Another feature of this galaxy is large-scale shocks from two powerful outflows along with a huge number of compact and bright star clusters. 

The researchers would use Webb's Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to learn more about these outflows in order to model the hot and cold gas the galaxy possesses. Co-investigator Vivian U of the University of California, Irvine said as per NASA, "The images will tell us where things are, but spectra provide the really rich information. They tell you what is there and how it may be moving." 

NASA says that the images and spectra obtained from Webb will not only be 50 to 100 times more sensitive than previous infrared data but also significantly sharper. 

Webb telescope prepares for its first observation

The Webb telescope is currently in its commissioning phase and engineers are turning on its instrument before Webb gets ready for observations later this year. Currently, the mission team is bringing the telescope's mirrors into focus and has released several intriguing pictures in the process.

Most recently, NASA shared a photograph featuring a sun-like star which was brought into focus during the mirror-alignment phases. Launched on December 25, the world's most powerful telescope has been parked at the second Lagrangian point approximately 15 lakh kilometres from Earth. 

(Image: @NASAWebb/Twitter)