Dying stars, clouds on exoplanets: What the James Webb Space Telescope reveals
In these images of the Southern Ring planetary nebula, the Webb telescope shows a dying star cloaked by dust and layers of light. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
The formation and death of stars, an exoplanet light years away from Earth and galaxy clusters that exist farther than humans have ever looked before — these are some of the sights that humanity laid eyes on for the first time on Tuesday, as NASA unveiled new images from the James Webb Space Telescope.
Among the images revealed was the spectrum of an exoplanet, the giant gas planet WASP 96-b, which orbits a star 1,150 light-years away. The Webb telescope captured the distinct signature of water vapor in the exoplanet’s atmosphere — the first evidence of clouds in an exoplanet’s atmosphere.
“Every image is a new discovery, and each will give humanity a view of the universe that we’ve never seen before,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said ahead of the reveal, speaking from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the distinct signature of water, along with evidence for clouds and haze, in the atmosphere surrounding a hot, puffy gas giant planet orbiting a distant Sun-like star. NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris joined Nelson on Monday evening to unveil the very first image — the deepest infrared image of the universe ever taken. Biden said the telescope and its mission “symbolizes the relentless spirit of American ingenuity.”
Because the JWST is an infrared telescope, it can penetrate through dust clouds and see light from faraway corners of the universe. These first images look back 13 billion years, and ultimately the JWST will look back as far as 13.5 billion years — an incredible distance, given that scientists have determined the universe is 13.8 billion years old.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail. NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
The image first revealed by the president, shown above, is known as Webb’s First Deep Field. It’s an image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, and it is overflowing with detail. It is teeming with galaxies, revealing them as they appeared around the time the sun and the Earth formed. The images are a glimpse back in time, since the speed of light is only so fast.
Thanks to the spectra obtained by Webb’s instruments, scientists can determine what these galaxies are made of. There are elements of oxygen and hydrogen, as well as neon.
“This is how the oxygen in our bodies was made, in stars and galaxies, and we’re seeing that process get started,” Webb Operations Scientist Jane Rigby said.
While the images released this week are remarkable, they only scratch the surface of what Webb will be able to reveal. While the Webb mission is supposed to last 10 years, the JWST has enough excess fuel capability to last for 20 years.
Getting this far already took tremendous feats of engineering. The JWST launched in December from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. After traveling 1 million miles away from Earth, the JWST unfurled its giant sunshield. It deployed and perfectly aligned its gold-coated mirrors and cooled its instruments to their near-absolute zero operating temperatures.
The JWST mission is a collaborative effort that includes NASA, the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, as well as private partners.
The mission “gives a new meaning to as far as the eye can see,” Congressman Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Tuesday. “The vision of the world is greater today than it was yesterday.”
In these images of the Southern Ring planetary nebula, the Webb telescope shows a dying star cloaked by dust and layers of light. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
The formation and death of stars, an exoplanet light years away from Earth and galaxy clusters that exist farther than humans have ever looked before — these are some of the sights that humanity laid eyes on for the first time on Tuesday, as NASA unveiled new images from the James Webb Space Telescope.
Among the images revealed was the spectrum of an exoplanet, the giant gas planet WASP 96-b, which orbits a star 1,150 light-years away. The Webb telescope captured the distinct signature of water vapor in the exoplanet’s atmosphere — the first evidence of clouds in an exoplanet’s atmosphere.
“Every image is a new discovery, and each will give humanity a view of the universe that we’ve never seen before,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said ahead of the reveal, speaking from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the distinct signature of water, along with evidence for clouds and haze, in the atmosphere surrounding a hot, puffy gas giant planet orbiting a distant Sun-like star. NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris joined Nelson on Monday evening to unveil the very first image — the deepest infrared image of the universe ever taken. Biden said the telescope and its mission “symbolizes the relentless spirit of American ingenuity.”
Because the JWST is an infrared telescope, it can penetrate through dust clouds and see light from faraway corners of the universe. These first images look back 13 billion years, and ultimately the JWST will look back as far as 13.5 billion years — an incredible distance, given that scientists have determined the universe is 13.8 billion years old.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail. NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
The image first revealed by the president, shown above, is known as Webb’s First Deep Field. It’s an image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, and it is overflowing with detail. It is teeming with galaxies, revealing them as they appeared around the time the sun and the Earth formed. The images are a glimpse back in time, since the speed of light is only so fast.
Thanks to the spectra obtained by Webb’s instruments, scientists can determine what these galaxies are made of. There are elements of oxygen and hydrogen, as well as neon.
“This is how the oxygen in our bodies was made, in stars and galaxies, and we’re seeing that process get started,” Webb Operations Scientist Jane Rigby said.
While the images released this week are remarkable, they only scratch the surface of what Webb will be able to reveal. While the Webb mission is supposed to last 10 years, the JWST has enough excess fuel capability to last for 20 years.
Getting this far already took tremendous feats of engineering. The JWST launched in December from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. After traveling 1 million miles away from Earth, the JWST unfurled its giant sunshield. It deployed and perfectly aligned its gold-coated mirrors and cooled its instruments to their near-absolute zero operating temperatures.
The JWST mission is a collaborative effort that includes NASA, the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, as well as private partners.
The mission “gives a new meaning to as far as the eye can see,” Congressman Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Tuesday. “The vision of the world is greater today than it was yesterday.”
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