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NGC 1433 (MIRI Image)

A large galaxy takes up the entirety of the image. The image is mostly black with a bright, glowing oval core at the center. The core is mostly bright white, but there are also swirling, detailed structures that resemble water circling a drain. There is white and light blue colored dust that emanates from the core’s center, but it is tightly contained to the core. There is black space between the core and glowing dust of the outer oval rings. The rings are wispy and highlight filaments of dust around cavernous black bubbles. The dust in the outer rings contains dots that are navy blue, pinkish, reddish, and white. Throughout, there is also a smattering of background galaxies seen as small red and greenish dots.

This image taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows one of a total of 19 galaxies targeted for study by the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby Galaxies (PHANGS) collaboration. Nearby barred spiral galaxy NGC 1433 takes on a completely new look when observed by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). 

NGC 1433’s spiral arms are littered with evidence of extremely young stars releasing energy and, in some cases, blowing out the gas and dust of the interstellar medium. Areas that appear dark and dim in optical imaging light up under Webb’s infrared eye. This is due to clumps of dust and gas in the interstellar medium absorbing the light from forming stars and emitting it back out in the infrared.

Webb’s image of NGC 1433 is a strong display of how dynamic processes associated with forming stars influence the larger structure of an entire galaxy.

At the center of the galaxy, a tight, bright core featuring a unique double ring structure shines in exquisite detail with Webb’s extreme resolution. In this case, that ‘double ring’ is actually tightly wrapped spiral arms that wind into an oval shape along the galaxy’s bar.

NGC 1433 is a Seyfert galaxy, which are typically relatively close to Earth and has a supermassive black hole at the center eating material at a high rate. The brightness and lack of dust in the MIRI image of NGC 1433 could hint at a recent collision with another galaxy.

NGC 1433 lies over 46 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Horologium.

MIRI was contributed by ESA and NASA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in partnership with the University of Arizona.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    03:42:00.82
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -47:13:28.56
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Horologium
  • 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.
    46 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.
    19 Jan 2023
  • 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 1433, PGC 13586
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Barred spiral galaxy with a double ring structure
  • 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. The image is mostly black with a bright, glowing oval core at the center. The core is mostly bright white, but there are also swirling, detailed structures that resemble water circling a drain. There is white and light blue colored dust that emanates from the core’s center, but it is tightly contained to the core. There is black space between the core and glowing dust of the outer oval rings. The rings are wispy and highlight filaments of dust around cavernous black bubbles. The dust in the outer rings contains dots that are navy blue, pinkish, reddish, and white. 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

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

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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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