James Webb Telescope Spots Mysterious 'Question Mark' Shape in Deep Space
Last year, researchers were stunned, when the James Webb Space Telescope spotted a literal 'question mark' in space. The phenomenon was captured at the bottom of an image of a pair of forming stars in the Vela constellation roughly 1,470 light-years from Earth, Space reported. Astronomers kept an eye on it, and on September 4, managed to click a clear picture of the uncanny feature which gave researchers more clues regarding the enigma.
Researchers had previously spotted that the 'question mark' was predominantly red, Space reported. Experts had further noted that the cosmic phenomenon was quite distant, and its shape was traced by a pair of faraway galaxies that were spiraling towards each other.
In the latest image, it is clear that one galaxy in question was red and dusty, while the other was a white spiral galaxy, and both of them were hugging the looping arc to its right.
The 'dot' of the question mark is an unrelated galaxy, as per researchers, Space reported. The image also showcases thousands of disparate light streaks contained within the phenomenon.
Data acquired from JWST claims that the two galaxies are seven billion light-years away from Earth and in close enough proximity to have interaction. Astronomers believe that the collision of the gas reservoirs within the galaxies is aiding them in forming stars in several compact regions.
"However, neither galaxy's shape appears too disrupted, so we are probably seeing the beginning of their interaction with each other," Vicente Estrada-Carpenter of Saint Mary's University in Nova Scotia shared about the galaxy, Space reported.
The two galaxies in the question mark are being distorted and duplicated by a foreground galaxy cluster, which is so massive that it is warping the fabric of spacetime, Space reported. This causes the red galaxy in the question mark to appear five times larger than the white galaxy in the picture. This phenomenon is known as gravitational lensing.
Gravitational lensing is a rare occurrence as it requires the observer, distant galaxies, and the lensing object to align in a particular manner, Space reported.
Experts are hoping that similar images will be captured by JWST in the future so that they can understand how galaxies evolved with time, Space reported. Researchers add that the question mark will help astronomers in further grasping Earth's Milky Way galaxy, as both structures share similar features.
"Webb is allowing us to study what the teenage years of our own galaxy would have been like," Marcin Sawicki, of Saint Mary's University, said in the statement.