N79 — a nebula spanning roughly 1,630 light-years, whose vast clouds of gas and dust act as a stellar nursery — was created using X-ray data from Chandra and infrared data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The X-ray data reveals the hot gas created by young stars, which helps astronomers better understand how stars like our sun formed billions of years ago, officials said in the statement.
N79, a giant star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small neighbor galaxy to the Milky Way. (Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Ohio State Univ/T. Webb et al.; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major)The spiral galaxy M83 is captured face-on, providing a clear view of its full structure. Chandra's X-ray data reveals remnants from widespread stellar explosions, or supernovas, while ground-based optical observations highlight its sweeping arms and mix of hot, young blue stars and cooler, older red ones.
M83, a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way, seen face-on. (Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/AURA/STScI, Hubble Heritage Team, W. Blair (STScI/Johns Hopkins University) and R. O'Connell (University of Virginia); Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare)Another mesmerizing spiral galaxy featured in this latest collection is NGC 1068, located relatively close to the Milky Way. It hosts a central NGC 1068 also includes radio observations from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico, as well as optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope and JWST. Together, the data reveals different layers of the galaxy's structure and energetic processes, highlighted by bright gold light in the image.
NGC 1068, a somewhat nearby spiral galaxy that contains a black hole at its center twice as large as the one at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. (Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical/IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI (HST and JWST); Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt and N. Wolk)Chandra's latest glimpse of Westerlund 1 offers a dazzling view of the star cluster, abundant with intense star formation. Chandra's X-ray data, combined with observations from the JWST and Hubble, reveals thousands of stars emitting X-rays within this bustling stellar nursery.
Westerlund 1, the biggest and closest "super" star cluster to Earth. (Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare)Other featured targets include the colliding galaxy pair IC 1623, the starburst galaxy M82 with its X-ray-blown gas plumes, star-forming hotbeds IC 348 and NGC 346, and an edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 2146, which boasts a dusty arm that blocks the view of its center from Earth's perspective.
IC 1623, a galactic system where two galaxies are in the process of merging. As the two galaxies collide, they cause bursts of star formation that emit different kinds of light. (Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and J. Major)Now in orbit for over 25 years, Chandra remains one of NASA's most powerful space telescopes, delivering ultra-sharp images that help astronomers map cosmic structures in remarkable detail.
The full collection of new images is available online.