A Glorious Spiral of Star Formation

This is the spiral galaxy NGC 5134, captured by the JWST in both near-infrared and mid-infrared. Images of nearby spiral galaxies like this one are important for studying star formation. The image is the ESA's Picture of the Month. Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy

Stars peek through the dusty, winding arms of NGC 5134, a spiral galaxy located 65 million light-years away, in this Feb. 20, 2026, image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument collects the mid-infrared light emitted by the warm dust speckled through the galaxy’s clouds, tracing the clumps and strands of dusty gas. The telescope’s Near Infrared Camera records shorter-wavelength near-infrared light, mostly from the stars and star clusters that dot the galaxy’s spiral arms. The image helps researchers understand star formation in spiral galaxies. Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy

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