James Webb Telescope Spots ‘Cosmic Owl,’ Super-Rare Structure Formed from Colliding Ring Galaxies

The “Cosmic Owl,” as photographed by the James Webb Space Telescope. Each “eye” is an active galactic nucleus, and the “beak” is a nursery of stars. (Image credit: Li et al.)

Whoooooo’s there? Just a “Cosmic Owl,” the latest strange discovery from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

A new study using JWST data has helped scientists spot an owl-faced object peering out at us from billions of light-years away. Formed through the extremely unusual collision of two rare ring galaxies, the structure also serves as a natural laboratory where researchers can study many of the processes accompanying the evolution of galaxies.

Galaxies come in several shapes, from swirling spirals like our home galaxy, the Milky Way, to the cigar-shaped M82. One slightly more peculiar type are ring galaxies, such as Hoag’s Object. These galaxies form when a small galaxy cruises straight through its larger buddy, kicking out stars and gas through shock waves into a ring around a central core.

(Source: livescience.com)