The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a large cosmic query mark in space that has baffled scientists.
The team operating the telescope on the European Space Agency released a picture on Wednesday that offered essentially the most detailed look yet at two actively forming young stars situated some 1470 light-years from Earth within the Vela Constellation.
The 2 dazzling stars, named Herbig-Haro 46/47, were seen surrounded by a disk of fabric that “feeds” them as they grow for hundreds of thousands of years.
But slightly below them, within the background of the stunning deep-space image, was an object that resembled an enormous, red query mark suspended within the night sky.
It’s unclear what the strange object is perhaps.
“It might be a distant galaxy, or potentially interacting galaxies. Their interactions can have caused the distorted query mark-shape,” representatives of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which manages the telescope’s science operations, told Space.com.
The representatives said the objects’ red color indicated that regardless of the oject is, it is probably going quite distant. It might even be the primary time the article has been observed by humans.
The James Webb Telescope has incredible capabilities that may show objects at astonishing distances. Its high-resolution near-infra-red imaging allows it to see into the far reaches of the universe, spotting galaxies as distant as 13.4 million light-years away that existed just 420 million years after the Big Bang.
“This will likely be the primary time we’ve seen this particular object,” the representatives said.
“Additional follow-up could be required to determine what it’s with any certainty. Webb is showing us many recent, distant galaxies, so there’s lots of recent science to be done!”
Matt Caplan, an assistant professor of physics at Illinois State University, told Space.com the article is perhaps two galaxies merging.
“The 2 distinct features could easily be merging galaxies within the background, with the upper a part of the query mark being part of a bigger galaxy getting tidally disrupted,” Dr Caplan said.
“Given the color of among the other background galaxies, this doesn‘t seem to be the worst explanation. Despite how chaotic mergers are, double lobed objects with curvy tails extending away from them are very typical.”
