A tour of ARP 142 James web telescope

This video tours Arp 142, an interacting galaxy pair affectionately known as the Penguin and the Egg that lies 326 million light-years from Earth.

The journey begins and ends on a new mid- and near-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope, and includes a brief fade to a visible light image from the Hubble Space Telescope.

The pair are separated by only 100,000 light-years — relatively close in astronomical terms. Our Milky Way galaxy and nearest neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy, are separated by about 2.5 million light-years. This tour spotlights what’s happened since they’ve interacted, including a blue haze that joins them.

Also look for contrasting views of the spiral galaxy at top right, which “disappears” in Webb’s mid-infrared view.

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Danielle Kirshenblat (STScI)