TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — One of the primary functions of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is to answer some of mankind’s biggest celestial questions. But a recent photo did exactly the opposite when the $10 billion telescope captured a glimpse of what appears to be a cosmic question mark.

According to NASA, Webb was using its Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) to observe a thin horizontal orange cloud known as Herbig-Haro 46/47. At the middle of the cloud is a set of very large red-and-pink diffraction spikes in Webb’s eight-pointed pattern.

Eagle-eyed stargazers who followed the lower red spike nearly to the bottom of the frame came across a peculiar sight: A question mark.

While it’s unclear what exactly the object might be, its shape and color may provide some clues.

“It is probably a distant galaxy, or potentially interacting galaxies,” representatives of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, told Space.com, adding their interactions may have caused the distorted question mark-shape.

Matt Caplan, an assistant professor of physics at Illinois State University, also told Space.com the question mark-shaped object may be two galaxies merging.

“Given the color of some of the other background galaxies, this doesn’t seem like the worst explanation,” Caplan said. “Despite how chaotic mergers are, double lobed objects with curvy tails extending away from them are very typical.”

STScI added the quirky sight may be the first time a telescope has captured an object like this one.

“Additional follow-up would be required to figure out what it is with any certainty,” the Institute said. “Webb is showing us many new, distant galaxies — so there’s a lot of new science to be done!”