PHOENIX — Have you ever seen a cosmic Christmas tree? Well, it’s actually called MACS0416, but due to the colorful flickering lights, the phenomenon is being referred to as the "Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster" by NASA.
The new images of these colliding galaxies were captured by the combined forces of the two most powerful space observatories ever created. Hubble Space Telescope in visible light and the James Webb Space Telescope in infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye. Experts say it’s roughly 4.3 billion light-years from Earth.
A light-year, equivalent to 5.88 trillion miles, is the distance a beam of light travels in a year. Blue-hued galaxies are the closest, bursting with star formation and easily seen in visible light by Hubble. The red galaxies are more distant, best detected by Webb in infrared light.
Meanwhile, if you’re traveling for Thanksgiving week, a large storm will gather over the central and eastern U.S., which may cause a ripple effect of travel disruptions leading up to the holiday.
The storm will advance eastward into Wednesday, creating increased weather-related delays across more than a dozen states.
Atlanta, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Boston and Detroit are just a handful of the travel hubs that could face messy weather ahead of Thursday. Flight delays and cancellations at these hubs could have a ripple effect across the country, potentially impacting flights to and from cities where there are calmer weather conditions.
Phoenix will be mild with plenty of sun to feast on!
