Is anyone out there? Astronomers spot a spooky looking QUESTION MARK hiding next to a pair of young stars in deep space
- Pictures of the ‘question mark’ were taken by the James Webb Space Telescope
- Experts say it may be two merging galaxies, one being the dot of question mark
It is a telescope which has provided answers on the deep universe – but now it may be raising a question.
The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a perfect and rather spooky question mark in the depths of space, close to a pair of young stars called Herbig-Haro 46/47.
It is unclear if the universe has questions for us, or is providing a gift for Dr Who fans, to reflect the question mark the Time Lord used to wear on his clothing in the classic show, as some on social media have suggested.
Experts say the question mark is perhaps less cryptic than it appears – and could simply show two merging galaxies, with one being stretched out by the gravity of the other.
Dr Stephen Wilkins, head of astronomy at the University of Sussex, said: ‘There are hundreds of billions of galaxies we can observe from our part of the universe, and most have a spiral shape or an elliptical shape, meaning they look like a blob from a distance.
Mysterious: The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a perfect and rather spooky question mark in the depths of space, close to a pair of young stars called Herbig-Haro 46/47
The question mark was revealed in the outer part an image by Webb (circled), which is the largest and most powerful telescope ever launched into space, and can see galaxies which existed only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang
WHERE IS THE COSMIC QUESTION MARK?
The James Webb Space Telescope was imaging a constellation called Vela 1,470 light-years away from Earth when it captured the cosmic question mark.
The bizarre feature is hidden towards the bottom of the picture, which shows the Herbig-Haro 46/47 emergent stars, the dusty blue nebula which surrounds them, and the galaxies in the background.
Experts believe the question mark is formed by two galaxies, sharing the same gravitational field, colliding.
The dot of the question mark is likely the larger galaxy, whose tidal forces have stretched out a smaller galaxy into a curved line of stars.
‘However, just like clouds, if you look at enough of these, you’ll find some which look recognisable, and seeing a question mark in the universe is undeniably very cool.
‘I am sorry to tell people it’s probably not a message to humanity – but it does show the amazing ability of this telescope to explore our universe as never seen before.’
The question mark follows a map of cosmic radiation – the background light left over from the Big Bang which formed the universe – which appeared to include the initials of the famous physicist who theorised about the Big Bang, Stephen Hawking.
Astronomers have also previously found galaxies which appear to look like everything from a penguin or a rose, to letters of the alphabet.
The question mark was revealed in the outer part an image by the James Webb Space Telescope, which is the largest and most powerful telescope ever launched into space, and can see galaxies which existed only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
The near-infrared image captures the Herbig-Haro 46/47 emergent stars, just 1,470 light years away in the constellation Vela, the dusty blue nebula which surrounds them, and the galaxies in the background.
Gregory Brown, astronomer at Royal Observatory Greenwich, said: ‘Ever since astronomers have turned their eyes to the stars, we have been tempted to discern patterns in what we find up there.
‘Many nebulae, which are clouds of interstellar gas, and galaxies have been named for their apparent forms, though most of these patterns noticed by early astronomers have become rather harder to see as telescopes have improved and the details in each object have become clearer.
Experts say the question mark is perhaps less cryptic than it appears – and could simply show two merging galaxies, with one being stretched out by the gravity of the other
Experts believe the question mark is formed by two galaxies, sharing the same gravitational field, colliding
The near-infrared image captures the Herbig-Haro 46/47 emergent stars, just 1,470 light years away in the constellation Vela, the dusty blue nebula which surrounds them, and the galaxies in the background
‘What was once seen as a faint smudge with the rough shape of a Christmas tree or a witch’s head are now more often seen as complex clouds and filaments of gas and dust.
‘Perhaps one day we’ll be able to look at this galaxy with telescopes of such quality that even this relatively simple form will be lost in the new detail we can see.’
Experts believe the question mark is formed by two galaxies, sharing the same gravitational field, colliding.
The dot of the question mark is likely the larger galaxy, whose tidal forces have stretched out a smaller galaxy into a curved line of stars.
But the two shapes may also just be two galaxies in close proximity.
Their red colour suggests they are distant in space, and the question mark may never have been detected by a telescope previously.
The James Webb Telescope: NASA’s $10 billion telescope is designed to detect light from the earliest stars and galaxies
The James Webb telescope has been described as a ‘time machine’ that could help unravel the secrets of our universe.
The telescope will be used to look back to the first galaxies born in the early universe more than 13.5 billion years ago, and observe the sources of stars, exoplanets, and even the moons and planets of our solar system.
The vast telescope, which has already cost more than $7 billion (£5 billion), is considered a successor to the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope
The James Webb Telescope and most of its instruments have an operating temperature of roughly 40 Kelvin – about minus 387 Fahrenheit (minus 233 Celsius).
It is the world’s biggest and most powerful orbital space telescope, capable of peering back 100-200 million years after the Big Bang.
The orbiting infrared observatory is designed to be about 100 times more powerful than its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope.
NASA likes to think of James Webb as a successor to Hubble rather than a replacement, as the two will work in tandem for a while.
The Hubble telescope was launched on April 24, 1990, via the space shuttle Discovery from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
It circles the Earth at a speed of about 17,000mph (27,300kph) in low Earth orbit at about 340 miles in altitude.
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