A dying star and a ‘universe’: Ancient galaxies revealed in never-before-seen photos | Science & Technology News
An entirely new, detailed view of the universe looking further into space and time than ever before has been revealed in an extraordinary set of images.
NASA released a full set of images from the James Webb Space Telescope, showing what is believed to be the “deepest” and most detailed picture of the universe to date.
This new view of the universe is possible because Webb is so large – with a mirror more than twice the size of the previously used Hubble.
It is the largest and most powerful telescope ever sent into space.
“Each image is a new discovery, and each image will give humanity a view of the universe we’ve never seen before,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
First image: distant galaxy cluster
The image above shows a deep-field cluster of distant galaxies, just as they looked billions of years ago.
Jane Rigby, who worked on the project, says this shows them from around the time the sun and Earth formed.
She says the image has a “sharpness and clarity” we’ve never had before, and that when taken close-up, “clusters of stars are forming, just popping like popcorn”.
Though if it looks a bit familiar, that’s because it was first revealed by NASA as a trailer yesterday.
Sky science and technology editor Tom Clarke says this is a long exposure photograph of a small patch of the universe.
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Image of ‘Jaws on the floor’ at NASA
He said: “If you stretch out your arm with a grain of sand on your finger – that’s the size of the sky this image covers.
Second image: a giant planet
This image is an analysis of the atmosphere of a giant planet known as WASP-96 b, and is the first “spectral analysis” of the atmosphere of an alien planet.
Webb will take some “spectral” photos in the coming months.
The process involves injecting light into its component “colors” to indicate what material a body is made of, its speed of movement or even its temperature.
This analysis is about a gas giant planet located nearly 1,150 light-years from Earth, orbiting its star every 3.4 days.
It has about half the mass of Jupiter, and its discovery was announced in 2014.
NASA said: “Webb detected clear signs of water, signs of haze and evidence of clouds (once thought not to exist there)!”
Third image: a planetary nebula
In this infrared image we can see a planetary nebula created by a dying star.
It is nearly half a light-year in diameter and is located about 2,000 light-years from Earth. A light year is 5.8 trillion miles.
The star can be seen giving off a large portion of its mass.
The Southern Ring Nebula, also sometimes referred to as the “eighties”.
The image of today is anything but the final border
Given the extraordinary capabilities of the James Webb telescope, we expected these images to be phenomenal, in the truest sense of the word. But wow, they really are.
Not only do we see exploding stars, the “dancing” universe, and 13 billion-year-old galaxies, but we can see it all in the most dazzling detail – better. ever.
The images themselves are an amazing breakthrough, but the infrared technology used in some, also has huge implications for astronomers because it reveals complete insights. new about a process that we only partially understand.
In one image, the telescope was able to see water vapor in the atmosphere of a planet more than 1,000 light-years from Earth.
The fact that JWST can see water in the atmosphere of a planet so far away is incredible, and it shows it can survey the sky, looking for other “Earth-like” atmospheres: One An important step in seeing what ordinary planets like ours might be like.
This is an incredible demonstration of the power of Webb – and with a projected range of around 20 years, there’s a lot more to come.
Fourth image: Stephan . quartet
This image is a group of five galaxies, two of which are in the process of merging.
It’s a combination of mid- and near-infrared images that show stars being born.
Despite being called the “quartile,” only four of the galaxies are actually interacting in a cosmic universe – the galaxy on the left is actually in the foreground.
Fifth image: The Cosmic Cliffs of the Carina . Nebula
This stunning image shows us – for the first time – hundreds of stars previously completely obscured from our view.
The Carina Nebula is a nearby (spatially) star-forming region in our own Milky Way galaxy.
The “cosmic cliffs” have previously been captured by the Hubble telescope, but this new perspective gives us a rare glimpse of stars in their earliest, rapidly forming stages.
The near-infrared shows hundreds of background stars and galaxies, while the mid-infrared shows the dusty planet-forming disks (red and pink) around young stars.
Mission of the telescope
A collaboration of scientists and engineers was formed between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency – and for 20 years they worked to complete the 8.4-dollar telescope. billion pounds.
US President Joe Biden took a peek at the images yesterday
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Deepest image of the universe ever taken: NASA releases first image from new space telescope
On Christmas Day 2021, Webb was launched, and it reached its destination in the Sun’s orbit nearly 1 million miles from Earth a month later.
Once there, the telescope went through a months-long process to unfold all of its components, including a sunshade the size of a tennis court, and to align the mirrors and calibrate. its devices.
The universe has been expanding for 13.8 billion years, which means that the light from the first stars and galaxies has been “stretched” from shorter visible wavelengths to longer infrared wavelengths.
This is what allows Webb to see the universe in unprecedented detail.
These images are the first of millions of images the new telescope will produce within its 20-year lifespan.
Each full-color, high-resolution photo released on Tuesday took weeks to render from raw telescope data.
Watch parties for the image release have taken place around the world including in the US, Canada, Israel, the UK and Europe.
