(ORDO NEWS) — A strange source of light haunted astronomers for many years. Finally managed to find and describe it. Not without the help of “James Webb”.
In 2010, scientists discovered an unusually bright light source in space. It was well visible in infrared radiation, but still much was unknown about it. Old telescopes could not determine its size and exact location.
Luckily, scientists now have “James Webb”.
They directed his “eye” to the mysterious find and learned the following: the radiation source arose about 500 million light-years from us, not far from the constellation Dolphin.
In this place, a collision of two galaxies, collectively known as IIZw096, occurs. Scientists have nicknamed the light source the “engine” of this interaction.
The radius of this “engine” does not exceed 570 light years. This is not much, especially when compared with the size of the entire merging system – about 65,000 light-years across.
“Interestingly, this compact source, located far from the galactic centers, dominates the infrared luminosity of the system,” says scientist Thomas Bon from the University of Hiroshima.
What exactly feeds the light source is still unknown. There are two assumptions: a star flash or a black hole. Both options will be tested in the future, with new data from “James Webb”.
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