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Infinity Galaxy (NIRCam)

A pair of distant galaxies that form the rough shape of an infinity symbol seen at roughly a 45-degree angle. Two overlapping, fuzzy rings with brighter blue patches are at upper right and lower left. At the center of each ring is a bright yellow blob, which is the nucleus. Where the two rings overlap on the left side, there is a mottled green patch of glowing gas midway between the two yellow nuclei. It is offset slightly to the left.

The Infinity Galaxy, the result of two colliding spiral galaxies, is composed of two rings of stars (seen as ovals at upper right and lower left). The two nuclei of the spiral galaxies are seen represented in yellow within the rings. Glowing hydrogen that has been stripped of its electrons between the two galaxies appears green. Astronomers have detected a million-solar-mass black hole that seems to be embedded within this large swath of ionized gas. They suggest that the black hole might have formed there through a process known as direct collapse. This image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) represents light at 0.9 microns as blue (F090W), 1.15 and 1.5 microns as green (F115W+F150W), and 2.0 microns as red (F200W).

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About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    10:00:14.2
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    +02:13:11.7
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Sextans

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 1727 (J. Kartaltepe). Image processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI).

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    NIRCam
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F090W, F115W, F150W, F200W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Infinity Galaxy
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Interacting galaxies
  • Release Date
    July 15, 2025
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Pieter van Dokkum (Yale)

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A pair of distant galaxies that form the rough shape of an infinity symbol seen at roughly a 45-degree angle. Two overlapping, fuzzy rings with brighter blue patches are at upper right and lower left. At the center of each ring is a bright yellow blob, which is the nucleus. Where the two rings overlap on the left side, there is a mottled green patch of glowing gas midway between the two yellow nuclei. It is offset slightly to the left.
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 using the NIRCam instrument. Several filters were used to sample specific 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:   Blue: F090W, Green: F115+F150W, Red: F200W

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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, Pieter van Dokkum (Yale)

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