Updated

Updated · Space.com · Aug 18

Hubble and Webb Combine 2 Telescope Views Into Black Eye Galaxy Image 17 Million Light-Years Away

Updated

Updated · Space.com · Aug 18

Hubble and Webb Combine 2 Telescope Views Into Black Eye Galaxy Image 17 Million Light-Years Away

Q: What ancient cosmic collision caused the Black Eye Galaxy's bizarre counter-spinning gas, and what secrets does it hold about galactic evolution?

The Black Eye Galaxy’s counter-spinning gas is most likely the aftermath of an ancient merger with a smaller satellite galaxy more than a billion years ago. Astronomers do not point to a single named lost galaxy, but the evidence strongly suggests that Messier 64 accreted outside gas during that collision. That imported gas settled into the outer parts of the galaxy and now rotates in the opposite direction from the gas and stars near the center. The unusual motion is widely treated as a “smoking gun” of that past interaction. What makes M64 especially valuable is what this collision reveals about galactic evolution. It shows how even a relatively modest merger can permanently reshape a spiral galaxy’s structure, dust lanes, and internal dynamics. Where the two oppositely rotating gas systems meet, gas clouds can collide, compress, and trigger fresh star formation. That gives astronomers a live laboratory for studying how mergers feed new stars while also disturbing a galaxy’s long-term stability. The new Webb-Hubble composite adds to that picture by combining infrared, visible, and ultraviolet views. Webb can peer through dust and trace cooler material and hidden star-forming regions, while Hubble maps starlight and overall structure. Together they help researchers test how galaxies grow by cannibalizing smaller companions, how gas gets redistributed after mergers, and how visible scars of old collisions can survive for billions of years.

3 articles · Updated · Space.com · Aug 18

Astronomers merged James Webb and Hubble data into a composite image of Messier 64, the Black Eye Galaxy, highlighting the spiral system 17 million light-years from Earth.
The image blends Webb's near- and mid-infrared observations with Hubble's ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared data, showing how the telescopes reveal different features of the same galaxy.
Messier 64 stands out because gas in its outer regions rotates opposite to gas and stars nearer its center, helping create the galaxy's distinctive "black eye" appearance.
NASA cast the collaboration as a preview of how major observatories can complement rather than replace one another ahead of the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.