Space photo of the week: Warped 'penguin galaxy' spotted by JWST is waddling toward certain doom

What it is: The galaxy duo Arp 142, also known as "the Penguin" and "the Egg"

Where it is: About 325 million light-years from Earth, in the constellation Hydra

When it was shared: July 12, 2024, the two-year anniversary of the James Webb Space Telescope's first image release

Why it's so special: After two years of operations, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has zoomed in on the oldest stars in the known universe, uncovered tantalizing alien planets that could harbor life, challenged leading theories of cosmology — and now, to celebrate its anniversary, even dabbled in bird-watching. 

In the cutting-edge telescope's latest image, JWST reveals the clearest view ever of Arp 142, a pair of intermingling galaxies resembling a cosmic penguin guarding its brilliantly shining egg. The larger Penguin galaxy (named NGC 2936) owes its warped appearance to more than 25 million years of gravitational friction with its eggy companion (NGC 2937), which will one day collide and merge with its neighbor entirely. 

The Penguin began its life as a spiral galaxy like our Milky Way, according to NASA. But, as many of us on Earth know, parenthood has a way of changing you. As the massive Egg orbits at about 100,000 light-years away, the Penguin gets bent ever further out of shape. What was once the spiral galaxy's dense center is now the Penguin's gleaming eye; its once-symmetrical spiral arms now stretch into a beak, back and tail. In thinner regions, like the Penguin's beak and tail, gas and dust squish together to form new stars.

Related: James Webb telescope confirms there is something seriously wrong with our understanding of the universe