A galaxy located millions of light-years away has been revealed in remarkable new detail by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. New images from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, released to celebrate its fourth science anniversary, show the familiar galaxy Centaurus A in far greater detail than ever before.

Webb's sensitivity across near- and mid-infrared wavelengths cuts through the thick dust covering the galaxy's center in visible light, revealing a dense collection of individual stars and an active, ever-changing galaxy, reported NASA.

The images mark four years of better-than-anticipated performance and successful science operations for the most powerful space telescope in history.

Centaurus A is 11 million light-years away from Earth, making it relatively close in cosmic terms. Unlike most nearby galaxies, it is highly active, making it an important place for scientists to study how galaxies and black holes grow and evolve together.

At the centre of the galaxy is a supermassive black hole that is actively feeding on surrounding material. As it does so, it sends out powerful jets and releases enormous amounts of energy that shape the galaxy.

Centaurus A also shows signs of a major collision with another galaxy that happened about two billion years ago. The effects of that merger can still be seen today in its unusual structure and ongoing star formation.

Earlier visible-light observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope could not show the galaxy's central region because dust blocked the view.

Source:Ndtv