Webb’s holiday card sorted! 🎄 NGC 7469 is like a cosmic wreath bursting with new stars. This galaxy is very dusty, but Webb’s infrared vision can peer through to observe features like the intense ring of star formation close around its bright center. Read more at the link in our bio. What are those large spikes? They’re not real objects, but diffraction spikes, an effect of very bright light interacting with the telescope mirrors. Here the center of the galaxy is extremely bright due to light emitted by heated dust and gas falling into the central black hole. Image description: A face-on galaxy, with gray spiral arms, sprinkled with bright red patches of star formation. Its center glows brightly and 6 spikes project from it — these are diffraction spikes. In the background are red and white glowing dots, which are other galaxies. Some of the background galaxies are recognizable as spirals. Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, L. Armus, A. S. Evans #JWST #JamesWebbSpaceTelescope #Galaxy #Space #NASA #Star #Cosmos #Holidays