Suggested Searches

 

1 min read

Giant Star in Dwarf Galaxy Sextans A (Spectrum)

Graphic titled “Giant Star in Dwarf Galaxy Sextans A: Iron-Rich Dust at Low Metallicities” showing a graph of brightness versus wavelength, with two sets of data and two model spectra. One set of data is represented in 12 orange triangle data points, and the other is a solid yellow line. A cyan solid line represents “Iron + 0.8% silicates” and a red dashed line represents “Iron + 5% silicates.” They appear on a graph of Brightness on the y-axis versus Wavelength of Light in microns on x-axis. The y-axis ranges from dimmer at bottom to brighter at top. The x-axis ranges from 0 to 12 microns.

This graph shows a spectrum of a giant star in the Sextans A galaxy at the very end of its evolution, called an Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) star. It displays the amounts of near- and mid-infrared light detected from the star by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope at different wavelengths.

The cyan line and red dashed line are best-fit models for the spectrum that would contain mostly silicate-free dust and dust containing at least 5% silicates, respectively. The Webb data, shown as a yellow line and orange triangles, align most closely with nearly silicate-free dust, most notably in the 10 micron wavelength region of the spectrum.

  • Release Date
    January 6, 2026
  • Science Release
    NASA Webb Finds Early-Universe Analog’s Unexpected Talent for Making Dust
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

Downloads

  • Full res (For Display), 3840 × 2160
    jpg (1.16 MB)
  • Full res (For Print), 3840 × 2160
    tif (22.55 MB)
  • For Display (Half Res), 1920 × 1080
    jpg (428.84 KB)

Related Images & Videos

A region of space is filled with stars and clumps of glowing orange and tan dust. A small portion of the sky at the center of the image is outlined with a white box. Lines extend from the corner of the box to the inset panel at the top right showing a magnified version of the outlined portion of the image. In the inset, there are smatterings of dim whitish-blueish stars and about seven glowing red orbs across the center in a line. Also across the center of the inset is a green glow. The background of the image is filled with stars and galaxies of various shapes and colors.

Sextans A PAHs Pull-out (NIRCam and MIRI Image)

Images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope of the dwarf galaxy Sextans A reveal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), large carbon-based molecules that can be a signifier of star formation. The inset at the top right zooms in on those PAHs, which are represented in green.

Two panels showing different views of a small galaxy. The left panel, labeled Webb, shows a region of space filled with stars and small clumps of glowing orange and tan dust. The right panel is labeled KPNO. This image shows stars on the black background of space, with a higher concentration of them in a globe at the center. On the edges of this circular globe, there are puffs of pink gas. A small portion of the of the galaxy in the right panel is outlined with a white box, and the image from the left panel appears in that box at a 45-degree angle. Lines extend from the corner of the box to the panel at the left.

Sextans A Context Image (Webb and KPNO)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s image of a portion of the nearby Sextans A galaxy is put into context using a ground-based image from the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory.

Image titled u201cJames Webb Space Telescope; Sextans A, UGCA 205,u201d with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key. At the left, a region of space is filled with stars and clumps of glowing orange and tan dust. A small portion of the sky at the center of the image is outlined with a white box. In the inset, there are smatterings of dim whitish-blueish stars and about seven glowing red orbs across the center in a line. Also across center of the image is a green glow. At the bottom left are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 2 ou2019clock. The north arrow points in the 10 ou2019clock direction. At the bottom left is a scale bar labeled 300 light-years, 15 arcsec. The length of the scale bar is about one tenth of the total image. Below the image is a color key showing which NIRCam and MIRI filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter.

Sextans A PAHs Pull-out (Compass Image)

This image of dwarf galaxy Sextans A, captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.

Share

Details

Last Updated
Jan 06, 2026
Location
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Contact
Media

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

Related Terms

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From Webb

James Webb Space Telescope

Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…

Science Overview

Webb Observatory

Webb Image Galleries