Messier 106 viewed by Hubble and Webb

This collage features three views of Messier 106, also known as NGC 4258. The first two images show the target in visible light as seen by KPNO and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The image on the right is a new image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope in the infrared. 

This is a nearby spiral galaxy that resides roughly 23 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici, practically a neighbour by cosmic standards. Messier 106 is one of the brightest and nearest spiral galaxies to our own and two supernovae have been observed in this galaxy in 1981 and 2014.

You can learn more about the details of Webb’s new image here.

[Image Description: A graphic with three images. The leftmost image shows a spiral galaxy in full on a dark background, seen in visible light by a ground-based telescope. A box over an area in the centre of the galaxy links by a pullout to the two right images. They both display this area larger and in more detail. The centre image shows it in visible light by the Hubble Space Telescope, the right in infrared light by the James Webb Space Telescope.]