James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope captures stunning, never before seen, images of five dancing galaxies and the Southern Ring Nebula spewing gas and dust.

The telescope also found water vapour in the atmosphere of a faraway gas planet. The latest tranche included the "mountains" and "valleys" of a star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula, dubbed the "Cosmic Cliffs," 7,600 light years away. The cosmic cliffs of a stellar nursery, a quintet of galaxies bound in a celestial dance: the James Webb Space Telescope released its next wave of images, heralding a new era of astronomy.

A "stellar nursery" and a "cosmic dance" are among James Webb's first batch of colour images.

Astronomers refer here to a "cosmic reef", or "cosmic cliff" - a kind of broad demarcation between dust in the bottom half, and then gas in the top half. But this treasure trove comes from only a few days of observations, and so far the telescope's only looked at a minute fraction of the sky. Key partners on the Webb project are the European and Canadian space agencies. And this was the great hope - that we would have Webb working alongside Hubble. They have different strengths and being able to compare and contrast will give scientists a new dimension to their studies. These first images from the James Webb Space Telescope are jaw-dropping. But the officials at Nasa who are in charge of the old warhorse have just submitted a five-year budget plan. Except in this Webb image, we not only see the stars - our eyes are drawn to all that gas and the dust. The Southern Ring, or "Eight-Burst" nebula, is a giant expanding sphere of gas and dust that's been lit up by a dying star in the centre. This Webb image doesn't look that different from the Hubble version at first glance, but the new telescope's infrared sensitivity will pull out different features for astronomers to study. Four of the five galaxies within the quintet are locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters. Everywhere you see a red arc-like structure - that's something - a galaxy - way off in the distance and far further back in time. It's known to astronomers as a "gravitational lens" because the mass of the cluster bends and magnifies the light of objects that are much further away.

The dawn of a new era in astronomy has begun as the world gets its first look at the full capabilities of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. The ...

Looking at this star-forming region in the southern constellation Carina, as well as others like it, Webb can see newly forming stars and study the gas and dust that made them.Read more about this image In return for these contributions, European scientists will get a minimum share of 15% of the total observing time, like for the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Now, scientists can get a rare look, in unprecedented detail, at how interacting galaxies are triggering star formation in each other and how the gas in these galaxies is being disturbed.Read more about this image From birth to death as a planetary nebula, Webb can explore the expelling shells of dust and gas of aging stars that may one day become a new star or planet.Read more about this image With Webb’s first detection of water in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, it will now set out to study hundreds of other systems to understand what other planetary atmospheres are made of.Read more about this image - SMACS 0723: Webb has delivered the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant Universe so far – and in only 12.5 hours.

Scientists 'thrilled and relieved' to get first images from most powerful space-based observatory ever built.

Since it blasted off in December, scientists have endured a nailbiting six months as the observatory has unfolded, deployed a sunshield the size of a tennis court, and aligned its 18 gold-plated mirrors en route to its destination 1m miles from Earth. This revealed the presence of water vapour, though the planet is too hot to harbour liquid water. It’s more than capable of doing that kind of science, superbly well.” “We’re seeing these galaxies in detail we’ve never been able to see before,” said Dr Jane Rigby, an operations project scientist on Webb. The “deep field” image released on Monday showcased Webb’s ability to harness the gravitational forces of galaxy clusters to magnify far more distant galaxies behind them. “I am so thrilled and so relieved,” said Dr John Mather, Nasa’s senior project scientist on the mission.

“Wow. Wow. This. This near infrared image is … wow,” Alex Lockwood, a James Webb Space Telescope project scientist, managed to utter as she and astronomer Karl ...

According to NASA, the image shows for the first time “previously invisible areas of star birth.” “We humans really are connected to the universe.” Stephan’s Quintet is a group of five galaxies whose gravitational forces have locked four of them in a “cosmic dance,” said Giovanna Giardino, an astronomer with the European Space Agency. Two are in the process of merging into a single galaxy, she added. “We knew this was a binary star, but we didn’t really see much of the actual star that produced the nebula,” Gordon said. Instead, it represents the final life stages of a dying star that’s “expelled a large fraction of its mass in successive waves,” said Karl Gordon, mid-infrared astronomer and Webb instrument scientist. But we also know we’re going to find things we never even imagined and it’s just going to open up a whole new world of astrophysics.”

The first photos from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have been released. Here's everything you need to know about space's hottest new photographer.

The Webb telescope cost $10 billion. NASA's website describes Webb as the government official who did more for science than perhaps any other and a fitting recipient to be the namesake of the Next Generation Space Telescope. The James Webb telescope is designed to capture light 100 times fainter than that captured by Hubble. As for the planets in our own solar system – the Webb telescope can see those too, of course. The telescope looks back in time using gravitational lensing. They are seen in part because the James Webb Telescope targeted a cluster called SMACS 0723, which has a gravitational field so strong it magnifies the light of older, more distant galaxies.

NASA says its extended inquiry into what Webb's role might've been in homophobic government policies is complete, an update is coming, and the name stays.

"Memorialization is important because it expresses a nation's values," Szkody said in the follow-up letter. American Astronomical Society President Paula Szkody sent a letter to Nelson in November requesting a public and formal report on the investigation and calling for a more inclusive naming process. "On the specific allegations against Webb the evidence is clear," Oluseyi concluded. "The records clearly show that Webb planned and participated in meetings during which he handed over homophobic material," the column reads. In May 2021, four astronomers circulated a petition that gathered more than 1,700 signatures from scientists and others calling for the telescope to be renamed. James Webb was NASA administrator, the agency's highest-ranking official, from 1961 until 1968, shepherding the agency through a golden era, including much of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.

Images of five targets showcase the most distant objects ever observed in outer space.

In the mid-infrared image on the right, we can see the white dwarf more clearly, surrounded by dust, a view made possible because of the power of JWST’s instruments. The gravitational interactions pull broad trails of gas and dust away from the galaxies, and Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) shows huge shockwaves as one of the galaxies, NGC 7318 B, slams through the cluster. This massive landscape of cosmic mountains and valleys in the Carina Nebula is known as the “Cosmic Cliffs.” Here the bubbles, cavities, and jets of newborn stars are made visible through the dust in a way that was impossible when the Hubble Space Telescope imaged this region of intense star formation. This pair of images of the Southern Ring Nebula shows two powerful perspectives on the same binary star system, a white dwarf and its younger counterpart. The youngest stars appear as red dots in the darker areas of the dust cloud; others are emitting ‘protostellar’ jets typical of early star birth. The space telescope, a project 30 years in the making, launched in December 2021 and arrived at its destination point in January. After a lengthy “unfolding” process, JWST turned its 21-foot mirror on the stars.

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The cosmic cliffs of a stellar nursery and a quintet of galaxies bound in a celestial dance: NASA released the next wave of images from the James Webb Space ...

Like a camera held in one’s hand, the structure has to remain very still for the best shots, with Webb’s engineers minimising its wobble to just 17 millionths of a millimetre. Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – have appeared in Webb’s view for the first time. Most dramatically, Webb captures huge shock waves as one of the galaxies, NGC 7318B, smashes through the cluster. In reality, it is the edge of the giant, gaseous cavity within NGC 3324, and the tallest “peaks” in this image are about 7 light-years high. The cavernous area has been carved from the nebula by the intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from extremely massive, hot, young stars located in the centre of the bubble, above the area shown in this image. Sweeping tails of gas, dust and stars are being pulled from several of the galaxies due to gravitational interactions. Stephan’s Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies, is best known for being prominently featured in the holiday classic film, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Today, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals Stephan’s Quintet in a new light. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail. This landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth. Sparkling clusters of millions of young stars and starburst regions of fresh star birth grace the image. Webb will allow astronomers to dig into many more specifics about planetary nebulae like this one – clouds of gas and dust expelled by dying stars. Stream your news live & on demand with Flash for $8/month and no lock in contracts.

NASA released five new images from the James Webb Space Telescope, revealing incredible details of ancient galaxies, stars and the presence of water in the ...

Webb is also excellently suited to study the end of a star’s life. The large white galaxies in the middle of the image belong to the cluster and are similar in age to the Sun and Earth. Surrounding and interspersed among the cluster galaxies are more distant galaxies, but stretched into spectacular arcs as if seen through a magnifying glass. During this transit, a portion of the star’s light was filtered through the planet’s atmosphere and left a “chemical fingerprint” in the light’s unique spectrum. It is like the universe in high definition, and I encourage you to look at the full resolution image and zoom in to truly appreciate the details. Webb was designed to collect light across the entire red to mid-infrared spectrum – wavelengths of light that are blocked by Earth’s atmosphere. In them are the oldest galaxies ever seen by human eyes, evidence of water on a planet 1,000 light-years away and incredible details showing the birth and death of stars.

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So much of the [scientific] community has come together to build this, and so much of the community is going to benefit from it.” The telescope takes its name from a public servant, not a scientist – James Webb was administrator of NASA during the renowned Apollo missions but his name has now been embroiled in controversy over a connection to the US public service’s dark history of expelling gay staff in the 1950s. “Where do these galaxies get the fuel needed to make so many stars, and why are they forming stars so fast? One in five of these “exoplanets” is thought to be Earth-sized and orbiting within their suns’ so-called Goldilocks, or habitable, zone where the conditions are neither too hot nor too cold for life. With its back to the sun and the Earth, a massive sun shield spread behind the telescope like a parachute will also chill its instruments to minus 233 degrees, so it can hunt for leftover heat from faraway galaxies without interference. Webb isn’t just seeing in infrared – it’s about six times bigger and 100 times more powerful than Hubble (which is already renowned for taking beautiful images of deep space). NASA says Webb is so sensitive it’s like spotting a bee on Earth from the moon. To see farther in space, you need to capture and concentrate more light with a bigger mirror – but one that fits in a rocket. In a particularly striking early image from Webb, “cosmic cliffs” within the distant Carina nebula show how the telescope can peer through this dust to study how stars are born – and how they die. “From that wild world of dust, planets form,” says Pope. But in this particular stellar nursery, some stars are in their death throes too, including Eta Carina (not pictured), likely the brightest star in the Milky Way. “It’s lived fast, and it’s going to die young. For 10 days in 1995, the Hubble telescope, the precursor to Webb, stared at an empty patch of sky – empty to the naked eye, at least. Yet within it, Webb has caught the twinkle of primordial galaxies almost as old as the universe and scientists say the expanded view could help solve all kinds of enduring questions – from whether we’re alone in the cosmos to how it all began. (“And it’s going to remind the world that America can do big things,” he said.)

The new images captured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope show a much more detailed look at the universe compared to those taken by its predecessor.

The image captured by Hubble appeared to show the galaxies surrounded by darkness — but Webb has turned that on its head, and could provide insights into how early galaxies formed at the start of the universe. The "Cosmic Cliffs" captured by Webb have built on Hubble's imagery of the Carina Nebula. The images, taken by NASA's $13 billion James Webb Space Telescope, have previously been captured by the Hubble Telescope, but show a much more complex picture of the universe.

Seen through the James Webb Space Telescope, the Carina Nebula is positively bursting with stuff.

The nebula is one of the largest and brightest in our night sky, and it is well-known for being photogenic. It had certainly seen spectacular space pictures before; Hubble’s view of the Carina Nebula, for example, is lovely in its own right. “You really are trying to show the different details and the processes that are happening in astronomical images, but at the end of the day, you want it to be very compelling,” Alyssa Pagan, a science-visuals developer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which operates Webb, said during a NASA broadcast today. There’s just so much in this little corner of the universe, and so much more than what we usually imagine when we think of the cosmos that lies far beyond our little planet. Webb sees the universe in infrared, the optimal wavelength for telescopes trying to see through cosmic dust and catch the light from the most distant stars and galaxies. I have followed the story of Webb for years, chronicling the ups and downs and controversies the mission has experienced on its way to becoming a real, functioning telescope.

The James Webb Space Telescope – an international premier space science observatory – has released its next wave of images, marking a new era for astronomy.

These images are set to transform the space industry as we know it. ELA has been contracted by NASA to launch three rockets in June and July 2022. The main image circulating on social media at the moment captures the Webb’s First Deep Field (AKA galaxy cluster SMACS 0723), which is approximately 2.5 million light years from one side to another.