Webb Spots Details in Nearby Spiral Galaxy

Stars peer through the dusty, winding arms of NGC 5134, a spiral galaxy 65 million light-years away, in this February 20, 2026 image taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Webb’s mid-infrared instrument collects mid-infrared light emitted by hot dust speckled across the galaxy’s clouds, tracing clumps and strands of dusty gas. The telescope’s near-infrared camera records shorter-wavelength near-infrared light, primarily from stars and star clusters that dot the galaxy’s spiral arms.

By using Webb to study infrared light near galaxies like NGC 5134 whose stars and gas can be seen in detail, astronomers can apply their knowledge to galaxies too distant to be observed so closely – like those scattered in the background of this image, little more than points of light.

Learn more about this galaxy.

Text credit: ESA (European Space Agency)

Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy