About two weeks after it had provided the deepest and most detailed insights into space with the first images, the "James Webb" telescope has sent a new image of a circular galaxy to earth. This is the so-called "Cartwheel Galaxy", which is about 500 million light-years away from Earth, said the US space agency.
The galaxy is made up of two rings - a smaller inner one made of hot dust and a larger outer one containing stars, among other things. The image shows that the galaxy is in a "very volatile" state and will likely continue to change, NASA said.
"James Webb" was built jointly by the space agencies in Europe (Esa), the USA (Nasa) and Canada (CSA) and was launched on December 25th on board an Ariane launch vehicle from the European spaceport Kourou in French Guiana - after there had previously been cost explosions and repeated postponements. The telescope is named after a former NASA boss who led the agency in the space-pivoting 1960s. The space agencies of the USA, Canada and Europe are cooperating on the project. The "James Webb Space Telescope" (JWST) took around 30 years to develop and ultimately cost around 10 billion dollars.
Communication from NASA
