Webb Telescope Maps Individual Stars in Dust-Shrouded Ancient Galaxy

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has resolved individual stars in Centaurus A, an active galaxy 11 million light-years away, the first time infrared observations have penetrated dust and mapped a dust-obscured stellar population directly. The galaxy's warped structure resulted from a merger 2 billion years ago. Webb's infrared capability exceeded Hubble's and Spitzer's reach, allowing astronomers to track star formation triggered by the collision and link stellar populations to the central black hole's feeding activity.