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Arp 107 (MIRI Image)

A pair of interacting galaxies. The larger of the two galaxies is slightly right of center, and is composed of a bright, white center and a ring of blue, gaseous filaments. The center of this galaxy shows Webb’s eight-pronged diffraction pattern. There are three filaments of gas and dust moving from the ring toward the center. At the top left of the ring is a noticeable gap, bordered by two large, blue pockets of dust and gas. The smaller galaxy is made of hazy, light blue gas and dust. Many red, green, blue, and yellow galaxies are spread throughout, with some being hazier in composition and others having more defined spiral patterns.

This image of Arp 107, shown by Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), reveals the supermassive black hole that lies in the center of the large spiral galaxy to the right. This black hole, which pulls much of the dust into lanes, also display’s Webb’s characteristic diffraction spikes, caused by the light that it emits interacting with the structure of the telescope itself. 

Perhaps the defining feature of the region, which MIRI reveals, are the millions of young stars that are forming, highlighted in blue. These stars are surrounded by dusty silicates and soot-like molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The small elliptical galaxy to the left, which has already gone through much of its star formation, is composed of many of these organic molecules.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    10:52:16.82
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    +30:04:0.27
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Leo Minor
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    About 450 million light-years
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Image is about 2.4 arcmin across (about 310,000 light-years)

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 with Webb data from proposal: 6556 (M. Garcia Marin); Image Processing: M. Garcia Marin, Alyssa Pagan (STScI) 

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    MIRI
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    1 May 2024
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F770W, F1000W, F1500W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Arp 107
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Interacting galaxies
  • Release Date
    September 18, 2024
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Webb Provides Another Look Into Galactic Collisions
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Downloads

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A pair of interacting galaxies. The larger of the two galaxies is slightly right of center, and is composed of a bright, white center and a ring of blue, gaseous filaments. The center of this galaxy shows Webb’s eight-pronged diffraction pattern. There are three filaments of gas and dust moving from the ring toward the center. At the top left of the ring is a noticeable gap, bordered by two large, blue pockets of dust and gas. The smaller galaxy is made of hazy, light blue gas and dust. Many red, green, blue, and yellow galaxies are spread throughout, with some being hazier in composition and others having more defined spiral patterns.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the MIRI instrument. Several filters were used to sample wide 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: MIRI> Yellow: F770W, Orange: F1000W, Red: F1500W

Related Images & Videos

A pair of interacting galaxies. The larger of the two galaxies is slightly right of center, and composed of a hazy, bright, white center and a ring of gaseous filaments, which are different shades of red and orange. Toward the bottom left and bottom right of the ring are filaments of gas spiraling inward toward the core. At the top left of the ring is a noticeable gap, bordered by two large, orange pockets of dust and gas. The smaller galaxy to its left is made of hazy white gas and dust, which becomes more diffuse farther away from its center. To this galaxy’s bottom left, there is a smaller, more diffuse gas cloud that wafts outward toward the edges. Many red, orange, and white galaxies are spread throughout, with some hazier in composition and others having more defined spiral patterns.

Arp 107 (NIRCam and MIRI Image)

This composite image of Arp 107, created with data from the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) reveal a wealth of information about their star-formation history and how these two galaxies collided hundreds of millions of...

A pair of interacting galaxies. At the bottom left are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points in the 10 o’clock direction. The east arrow points toward 6 o’clock. At the lower right is a scale bar labeled light-years. The length of the scale bar is one-sixth the total width of the image. Below the image is a color key showing which NIRCam filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter. From left to right, the NIRCam filters are: F090W is blue; F150W is blue; F200W is green; F277W is green; F356W is red; and F444W is red. From left to right, the MIRI filters are: F770W is yellow; F1000W is orange; and F1500W is red.

Arp 107 (NIRCam and MIRI Compass Image)

The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above). The scale bar is labeled in...

A pair of interacting galaxies. The larger of the two galaxies is slightly right of center, and composed of a hazy, bright, white center and a ring of gaseous filaments, which are different shades of red and orange. Toward the bottom left and bottom right of the ring are filaments of gas spiraling inward toward the core. At the top left of the ring is a noticeable gap, bordered by two large, orange pockets of dust and gas. The smaller galaxy to its left is made of hazy white gas and dust, which becomes more diffuse farther away from its center. To this galaxy’s bottom left, there is a smaller, more diffuse gas cloud that wafts outward toward the edges. Many red, orange, and white galaxies are spread throughout, with some hazier in composition and others having more defined spiral patterns.

A Tour of Arp 107

This video tours Arp 107, two galaxies that collided hundreds of millions of years ago. The journey begins and ends on a new mid- and near-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope, and includes a fade to the mid-infrared view from Webb. Webb has captured the pair of...

Telescope image including distant stars and the dark, dusty arm of a galaxy are overlaid with semi-transparent graphics representing the constellations Ursa Major, as a bear, on the top and center and Leo Minor, as a lion on the bottom right. Thin blue lines connect the actual stars of the constellations.

Zoom into Arp 107

Enjoy this trip to Arp 107, starting with a view of the constellations Ursa Major and Leo Minor. The journey to Arp 107, seen as we pass thousands of galaxies, would take light 450 million years to complete. As we approach Arp 107, the images transition from those taken by...

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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

Image Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

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