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Interacting Galaxies VV 191 (Webb and Hubble Composite Image)

Two large, very bright galaxies dominate the center of the image. The elliptical galaxy at left is extremely bright. At right is a bright spiral galaxy with a bright white core, and has red and light purple spiral arms. Throughout the scene are a range of distant galaxies, the majority of which are very tiny and red.

Editor’s Note: This post highlights data from Webb science in progress, which has not yet been through the peer-review process.

By combining data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, researchers were able to trace light that was emitted by the large white elliptical galaxy at left through the spiral galaxy at right and identify the effects of interstellar dust in the spiral galaxy. This image of galaxy pair VV 191 includes near-infrared light from Webb, and ultraviolet and visible light from Hubble. 

Webb’s near-infrared data also show us the galaxy’s longer, extremely dusty spiral arms in far more detail, giving them an appearance of overlapping with the central bulge of the bright white elliptical galaxy on the left. Although the two foreground galaxies are relatively close astronomically speaking, they are not actively interacting.

Don’t overlook the background scenery! Like many Webb images, this image of VV 191 shows many galaxies that lie great distances away. For example, two patchy spirals to the upper left of the elliptical galaxy have similar apparent sizes, but show up in very different colors. One is likely very dusty and the other very far away, but researchers need to obtain data known as spectra to determine which is which.

Read the full story.

Webb’s NIRCam was built by a team at the University of Arizona and Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    13 48 22.367
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    +25 40 49.66
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Boötes

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    This image was created from JWST and HST data from proposals: 1176 (R. A. Windhorst), 13695 (B. W. Holwerda) ; 15106 (B. W. Holwerda) 

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    HST>WFC3/UVIS JWST>NIRCam
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    19 June 2015, 16 Dec 2018, 2 July 2022
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    HST> F336W, F606W JWST> F356W, F150W, F090W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    VV 191
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Overlapping galaxies
  • Release Date
    October 5, 2022
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, CSA, JWST PEARLS Team, Rogier Windhorst (ASU), William Keel (University of Alabama), Stuart Wyithe (University of Melbourne); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

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Two large, very bright galaxies dominate the center of the image. The elliptical galaxy at left is extremely bright. At right is a bright spiral galaxy with a bright white core, and has red and light purple spiral arms. Throughout the scene are a range of distant galaxies, the majority of which are very tiny and red.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope using the NIRCam and WFC3/UVIS instruments respectively. Several filters were used to sample infrared, visible and ultraviolet wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are:    Red: F356W Yellow: F150W, Green: F090W, Blue: F336W + F606W

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Details

Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Science Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA, JWST PEARLS Team, Rogier Windhorst (ASU), William Keel (University of Alabama), Stuart Wyithe (University of Melbourne)

Image Processing Credit

Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

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