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Infinity Galaxy (NIRCam) with Radio Emission Contour Map (VLA)

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. Orange contours are overlaid on the galaxies. The contours are egg-shaped and centered on the green patch between the two galaxies.

This image of the Infinity Galaxy from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam is overlayed with a contour map of data from the Very Large Array radio telescope. The center pinpoint of radio emission perfectly lines up with the center of the glowing gas detected in the infrared in between the two nuclei of the galaxies. The detection of radio emission from supermassive black holes informs researchers about the energetics of the object, specifically how it is pulling in surrounding material.

Read the story.

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, VLA, 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. Orange contours are overlaid on the galaxies. The contours are egg-shaped and centered on the green patch between the two galaxies.
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, VLA, Pieter van Dokkum (Yale)

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