This picture from NASA/ESA/CSA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows NGC 6822, an irregular galaxy. Instruments NIRCam and MIRI reveal different parts of the Galaxy. MIRI highlights gas-rich regions (yellow swirls), while NIRCam observes stars.
NGC 6822 is close, 1.5 million light-years away, a neighbor to the Milky Way. It’s low in metallicity, with fewer elements beyond hydrogen and helium. Metallicity is key in understanding star evolution and dust in the early Universe.
E. E. Barnard found NGC 6822 in 1884 and called it faint. Edwin Hubble’s 1925 study confirmed it’s beyond Milky Way, settling cosmic debates. Susan Kayser, the first woman Caltech astronomy Ph.D., searched deep about NGC 6822 in 1966.
Now, Webb Telescope continues NGC 6822’s study, unraveling cosmic mysteries.
[Image Description: Stellar field with gas and dust clouds. Galaxies twinkle through. Bright stars in lower-right.]
Meanwhile, you can download wallpaper-sized versions of the new image from the ESA Webb website.
