VP Harris, France’s Macron view image of galaxies merging together
French President Emmanuel Macron, left, and Vice President Kamala Harris speak during a meeting to highlight space cooperation between the two countries, at NASA headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
NASA’s Webb Space Telescope captured two galaxies merging together nearly 500 million light-years from Earth.
The bright cores of the galaxies II ZW 96 are connected by bright tendrils of star-forming regions, NASA said. The spiral arms of the lower galaxy have been twisted out by gravity.
NASA/ESA
The images were first shown to Vice President Kamala Harris and French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday. Macron is in the U.S. and visiting the White House on Thursday.
The telescope is capable of observing faint and distant systems. It used its near-infrared camera and mid-infrared instrument to capture the galaxies.
Even more distant galaxies could be seen behind II ZW 96.
