The James Webb Space Telescope capture the eerie punctuation mark mark , found buried within an paradigm of Herbig - Haro 46/47 — a tightly bound pair of actively form maven located 1,470 light years from Earth .
The gamy - resolution almost - infrared image , capture by the Webb Space Telescope , a project from NASA in collaboration with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency , came out last hebdomad . But if you surge in close enough ( at the center bottom ) , you ’ll see an galactic feature that , from our perspective , bear an uncanny resemblance to a question mark , as Space.compoints out .
The unexpected question Gospel According to Mark suggest a cosmogenic substance from extraterrestrial , God , or the posthuman civilization running our simulated universe , but its underlying cause is far less extraordinary .
Do you realize, there’s a question mark floating in space?Image: NASA, ESA, CSA
In reception to a Space.com query , representative of the Space Telescope Science Institute ( STScI ) , which manages Webb ’s skill operations , speculate that this cosmic question mark could be a distant galaxy or a pair of interacting galaxies . In those scenarios , gravitative forces could have manipulated these astronomic structures , leading to the distorted , head scratch - like shape . Interestingly , this might be the first fourth dimension that astronomer have set their eyes on this distant objective ( or object ) , which exists far outside the bounds of our Milky Way galaxy .
Matt Caplan , an adjunct professor of physics at Illinois State University , reaffirm this suspicion , telling Space.com that the unique feature is likely two galaxies in the process of coming together . In his interpretation , the distinct shape of the upper physical object is a potential sign of the zodiac of the “ big galaxy getting tidally disrupted , ” he enjoin Space.com . In other word , the bigger galaxy is being rend apart , or warp , due to gravitative violence .
That we ’re bound to see familiar shapes in unremarkable objects should be anticipate , peculiarly when peer into the enormousness of place . There ’s theghost - like Boomerang nebula , thespooky expression of Arp - Madore 2026 - 424 s(two conflux galaxies ) , and thejack - group O - lantern Sun , as some other examples .
The image, released last week, shows Herbig-Haro 46/47, and an apparent question mark in deep space (as shown by yellow indicators at bottom center)Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Gizmodo
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Zoomed in even further, the feature still exhibits a distinctly question mark-like appearance.Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Gizmodo
