James Webb Telescope Captures Stunning Image of 'Phantom Galaxy' M74

Thirty-two million light-years away in the constellation Pisces, the James Webb Space Telescope has turned its infrared gaze upon M74—the Phantom Galaxy—and found in its unusually crisp spiral arms a rare window into the mechanics of star formation. By layering Webb's MIRI infrared data over decades-old Hubble observations, astronomers at the European Space Agency have created a composite portrait of a galaxy that is both beautiful and deeply instructive. In the long human effort to understand how stars are born and how galaxies evolve, M74 has emerged as something like a Rosetta Stone—a place