It is a telescope which has provided answers on the deep universe – but now it may be raising a question.
The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a perfect and rather spooky question mark in the depths of space, close to a pair of young stars called Herbig-Haro 46/47.
It is unclear if the universe has questions for us, or is providing a gift for Dr Who fans, to reflect the question mark the Time Lord used to wear on his clothing in the classic show, as some on social media have suggested.
Experts say the question mark is perhaps less cryptic than it appears – and could simply show two merging galaxies, with one being stretched out by the gravity of the other.
Dr Stephen Wilkins, head of astronomy at the University of Sussex, said: ‘There are hundreds of billions of galaxies we can observe from our part of the universe, and most have a spiral shape or an elliptical shape, meaning they look like a blob from a distance.
Mysterious: The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a perfect and rather spooky question mark in the depths of space, close to a pair of young stars called Herbig-Haro 46/47

The question mark was revealed in the outer part an image by Webb (circled), which is the largest and most powerful telescope ever launched into space, and can see galaxies which existed only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang
‘However, just like clouds, if you look at enough of these, you’ll find some which look recognisable, and seeing a question mark in the universe is undeniably very cool.
‘I am sorry to tell people it’s probably not a message to humanity – but it does show the amazing ability of this telescope to explore our universe as never seen before.’
The question mark follows a map of cosmic radiation – the background light left over from the Big Bang which formed the universe – which appeared to include the initials of the famous physicist who theorised about the Big Bang, Stephen Hawking.
Astronomers have also previously found galaxies which appear to look like everything from a penguin or a rose, to letters of the alphabet.
The question mark was revealed in the outer part an image by the James Webb Space Telescope, which is the largest and most powerful telescope ever launched into space, and can see galaxies which existed only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
The near-infrared image captures the Herbig-Haro 46/47 emergent stars, just 1,470 light years away in the constellation Vela, the dusty blue nebula which surrounds them, and the galaxies in the background.
Gregory Brown, astronomer at Royal Observatory Greenwich, said: ‘Ever since astronomers have turned their eyes to the stars, we have been tempted to discern patterns in what we find up there.
‘Many nebulae, which are clouds of interstellar gas, and galaxies have been named for their apparent forms, though most of these patterns noticed by early astronomers have become rather harder to see as telescopes have improved and the details in each object have become clearer.

Experts say the question mark is perhaps less cryptic than it appears – and could simply show two merging galaxies, with one being stretched out by the gravity of the other

Experts believe the question mark is formed by two galaxies, sharing the same gravitational field, colliding

The near-infrared image captures the Herbig-Haro 46/47 emergent stars, just 1,470 light years away in the constellation Vela, the dusty blue nebula which surrounds them, and the galaxies in the background
‘What was once seen as a faint smudge with the rough shape of a Christmas tree or a witch’s head are now more often seen as complex clouds and filaments of gas and dust.
‘Perhaps one day we’ll be able to look at this galaxy with telescopes of such quality that even this relatively simple form will be lost in the new detail we can see.’
Experts believe the question mark is formed by two galaxies, sharing the same gravitational field, colliding.
The dot of the question mark is likely the larger galaxy, whose tidal forces have stretched out a smaller galaxy into a curved line of stars.
But the two shapes may also just be two galaxies in close proximity.
Their red colour suggests they are distant in space, and the question mark may never have been detected by a telescope previously.
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