The James Webb Space Telescope has captured fresh details of the Phantom Galaxy.

The Phantom Galaxy is a "favorite target for astronomers studying the origin and structure of galactic spirals," NASA and the ESA said.

In a stunning image provided by NASA and the European Satellite Agency, the James Webb space telescope reveals astonishing new detail of a previously known piece of the universe 32 million light-years distant (ESA). The telescope's infrared equipment, which was unveiled in December 2021, has provided astronomers with a sharper glimpse of the so-called Phantom Galaxy than they had previously seen.

Webb's keen eyesight has uncovered fine filaments of gas and dust in the grandiose spiral arms that snake outwards from the center of this picture, according to NASA and the ESA. The dearth of gas in the nuclear zone also allows for a good view of the nuclear star cluster at the galaxy's core.

The spinning celestial object, formally known as M74, is 32 million light-years distant from Earth in the Pisces constellation. The Webb image depicts the galaxy's spectacular white, red, pink, and light blue dust and star appendages moving around a bright blue nucleus, all against a black background of deep space. M74 was originally imaged by Hubble, which recorded the swirling blue and pink arms of the galaxy but depicted its incandescent core as a mellow yellow.

According to NASA and the ESA, the Phantom Galaxy is a "favorite target for astronomers studying the origin and structure of galactic spirals," Webb's image will let them "learn more about the earliest phases of star formation in the local Universe," and collect more data on 19 star-forming galaxies near our own Milky Way.

Astronomers will also use the image to locate star-forming areas in galaxies, precisely estimate the masses and ages of star clusters, and learn more about the nature of microscopic grains of dust wandering in interstellar space.

Webb's new images have wowed the space community as the telescope orbits the Sun at a million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth in a region of space known as the second Lagrange point. NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency collaborated on the telescope, which has a primary mirror that is more than 21 feet (6.5 meters) wide. It is planned to be operational for around 20 years.