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NGC 1365 (MIRI Compass Image)

A large galaxy takes up the entirety of the image, with the lower right portion of the galaxy’s spiral arms extending off frame. The core of the galaxy is just off center to the lower right. The bright white, slightly pinkish core is not a perfect circle—it’s an elongated oval with bright, narrow, diffuse arms extending a short way out at each narrow end of the oval. The main spiral arm to the upper left of the core is wispy and highlights filaments of dust around cavernous black bubbles. Throughout, there is also a smattering of background galaxies seen as small red and greenish dots.

This image of the nearby galaxy NGC 1365, captured by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.

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).

At the lower right is a scale bar labeled 8,000 light-years, 30 arcseconds. The length of the scale bar is approximately one-fifth the total width of the image. Below the image is a color key showing which MIRI filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter. From left to right, MIRI filters are: F770W is blue; F1000W and F1130W are green; and F2100W is red.

Read the full image caption.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    03:33:34.76
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -36:08:35.33
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Fornax
  • 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.
    56 million 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: 2107 (J. Lee).

  • 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.
    13 Aug 2022
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F770W, F1000W, F1130, F2100W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    NGC 1365, The Great Barred Spiral Galaxy
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Barred spiral galaxy
  • Release Date
    February 16, 2023
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Webb Reveals Intricate Networks of Gas and Dust in Nearby Galaxies
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, CSA, Janice Lee (NSF's NOIRLab); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

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A large galaxy takes up the entirety of the image, with the lower right portion of the galaxy’s spiral arms extending off frame. The core of the galaxy is just off center to the lower right. The bright white, slightly pinkish core is not a perfect circle—it’s an elongated oval with bright, narrow, diffuse arms extending a short way out at each narrow end of the oval. The main spiral arm to the upper left of the core is wispy and highlights filaments of dust around cavernous black bubbles. Throughout, there is also a smattering of background galaxies seen as small red and greenish dots.
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 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:   Blue: F770W, Green: F1000W+F1130W, Red: F2100W

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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, Janice Lee (NSF’s NOIRLab)

Image Processing Credit

Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

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