WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE Arp 220 Interacting Galaxies Jigsaw Puzzle

Arp 220, a merging pair of spiral galaxies, stands out like a radiant beacon in the vast expanse of galaxies. Captured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, its brilliance in infrared light makes it an ideal target. This ultra-luminous infrared galaxy, located 250 million light-years away in the Serpens constellation, boasts a luminosity exceeding a trillion suns, dwarfing our Milky Way's modest ten billion suns. Arp 220, cataloged as the 220th object in Halton Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, is the nearest and brightest of the three galactic mergers closest to Earth. The collision of these spiral galaxies commenced approximately 700 million years ago, igniting a massive burst of star formation. A densely packed, dusty region measuring around 5,000 light-years across is home to approximately 200 enormous star clusters, accounting for only 5 percent of the Milky Way's diameter. Surprisingly, the gas concentration in this tiny region matches that of the entire Milky Way galaxy. Earlier observations with radio telescopes unveiled roughly 100 supernova remnants within an area smaller than 500 light-years. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope detected the cores of the parent galaxies, located 1,200 light-years apart. These cores feature rotating, star-forming rings emitting dazzling infrared light, magnificently showcased in the Webb's view, complete with diffraction spikes. Webb's observations also expose faint blue tidal tails on the merger's outskirts, resulting from gravitational forces, illustrating the ongoing galactic dance. Additionally, reddish-orange streams and filaments throughout Arp 220 represent organic material.