What does the huge cosmic "Question Mark" captured in Deep-Space by NASA's telescope mean?

Here comes yet another astonishing piece of news from the cosmos. NASA is shocked by the recently discovered mysterious question mark that is shining bright in space. The question mark itself is bringing up a myriad of questions in the minds of researchers. The mark was seen in a high-resolution infrared image brought by James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The image was released on 26th June.

The image captured by James Webb Space Telescope gives one a detailed view at Herbig-Haro 46-47, a strange pair of actively created stars, in the Vela Constellation, situated at 1,470 light years from our planet.

The stars appeared like an orange-white splotch. A disk of dust and gas surrounds the stars. This disk further adds to the mass of the stars.

The strange huge question mark

Till now, it is not clear what the object in the shape of the question mark might be, however, scientists are of the view that the red color of the question mark and its distorted shape might also be a faraway galaxy or actually a pair of interacting galaxies.

“It is probably a distant galaxy, or potentially interacting galaxies (their interactions may have caused the distorted question mark shape)," said the Space Telescope Science Institute representatives.

As per the reports, it may be the very first incidence of astronomers to spot a question mark in the cosmos. The color of the object is red, which implied that no matter what the object is, it is actually very far.

“This may be the first time we’ve seen this particular object. An additional follow-up would be required to figure out what it is with any certainty. Webb is showing us many new, distant galaxies—so there’s a lot of new science to be done!" said the scientist.

Assistant professor of physics, at Illinois State University, Mark Caplan stated that the two distinct features spotted could actually be the merger of galaxies in the background. But, the distinct upper part of the strange object could actually be a "part of a larger galaxy getting tidally disrupted.”

ALSO READ: Contact between NASA and Voyager 2 has been restored successfully! Here's everything you need to know

The James Webb Telescope

It was in December 2021 when the James Webb Telescope was launched, and since then the telescope has been viewing and displaying strange objects that are at great distance from the Earth. The telescope has been answering out-of-the-box questions regarding the Universe and making discoveries that are groundbreaking in all walks of astronomy, said the European Space Agency on their official website.

The telescope was launched from Europe's Spaceport in French Guana on Ariane 5 on around December 25, 2021. The superb high-resolution near infra-red imaging makes it possible to peep into faraway space. It is through this imaging that the telescope is able to spot galaxies situated at an outstanding distance of 13.4 million light-years away. The telescope is able to spot infrared light that is not possible to spot through the human eye.

The telescope has aided in showing that galaxies in the first billion years of the universe were actually more active than wondered previously, thereby creating a lot of stars in the big bursts.

ALSO READ: Space Calendar 2023: Here is the complete list of rocket launches, missions, sky-watching events, and a lot more!