NGC 5068 is the galaxy smaller than our Milky Way but still located at a huge distance from our planet: about 22 million light-years. In other words, there’s no use hoping to spend a vacation there unless you’ve somehow invented a teleportation device or managed to create a wormhole.
NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope is now up for another extraordinary space journey: by pointing its advanced gear toward the depths of the Cosmos, the most powerful space telescope in history managed to focus clearly on the core of the NGC 5068 galaxy and its stellar abundance.
The official Twitter account of JWST wrote about the new picture obtained of the remote galaxy in question:
Webb’s looked at galaxies from both sides now…
From dust structures in mid-infrared light to stars in near-infrared light, Webb’s dual vision is helping us to see star-forming regions — such as galaxy NGC 5068 — as never before
Webb’s looked at galaxies from both sides now…
From dust structures in mid-infrared light to stars in near-infrared light, Webb’s dual vision is helping us to see star-forming regions — such as galaxy NGC 5068 — as never before: https://t.co/hcKATghK07 pic.twitter.com/6n2YLejv9l
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) June 2, 2023
NGC 5068 is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Virgo. The precise coordinates are right ascension 13h 18m 54.8s and declination -21° 02′ 21″. The galaxy has a redshift value of 0.002228, indicating its motion away from us due to the ongoing and everlasting expansion of the Universe. With a heliocentric radial velocity of approximately 668 ± 3 km/s, the NGC 5068 galaxy is moving away from our Solar System at a significant speed. The galaxy is located at a distance of about 22 million light-years (6.8 megaparsecs) from our planet. The apparent magnitude of the galaxy in the visible spectrum is measured to be 10.5, making it visible through medium-sized telescopes or larger.
Following a highly successful launch and the subsequent completion of the commissioning process for the James Webb Space Telescope, the team responsible for its operation and maintenance has evaluated that the observatory possesses an ample amount of propellant. This significant supply of propellant ensures that the telescope is well-equipped to support a lengthy period of scientific operations while in orbit. In fact, it has been determined that the propellant reserves are sufficient to sustain the telescope’s functionality for a span of over two decades.
