Stephan’s Quintet is a visual group: 4 of these galaxies are interacting, and one them (the leftmost) is much closer to us then the others. JWST’s powerful infrared camera, combined with high-resolution spectrographers, will provide astronomers with data to better understand the physical processes involved in the interaction of galaxies, which could answer many questions about how galaxies evolve.
Using the Medium Resolution Spectrometer, part of the Mid Ifrared Instrument (MIRI), JWST obtained integral field spectroscopic data from the gas around a supermassive black hole (SMBH), allowing for a spatially resolved view of the composition of the gas.
