James Webb Space Telescope reveals the first set of images
NASA revealed the first set of images from JWST on the 12th of July, and with it begins a journey of science that will change our view of the universe forever.
On the 11th of July, NASA revealed a bonus sneak peek with Webb’s first Deep Field image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. The amount of time Webb spent capturing this deep field was 12 hours. Way lower time than what its predecessor Hubble Space Telescope took, about 22 days. NASA also said that this is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. The image covers an area of the universe approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length.
The first thing to get revealed on the 12th is data from a gas giant planet named WASP-96 b orbiting a sun-like star around 1150 light-years away in the constellation Phoenix. JWST captured the distinct signature of water, along with evidence of clouds and haze. The observation reveals the gas molecules based on tiny decreases in the brightness of the precise colors of light and is the most detailed of its kind to date, which also shows the immense and unprecedented ability of JWST to measure and observe the atmospheres of planets thousands and hundreds of light-years away. This also paves the way to find and characterize potentially habitable planets beyond the earth.
The second image is of Southern Ring Nebula, approximately 2500 light-years away. The powerful cameras onboard the Webb reveal that the star at the center of the nebula has been cloaked in dust.
The third image is a stunning full view of Stephan’s Quintet, a group of 5 galaxies. This big mosaic is Webb’s largest image to date. The image covers about 1/5 of the moon’s diameter and is constructed from 1000 different image files.
The information from Webb provides new insights into how galactic interactions may have driven galaxy evolution in the early universe. - NASA
The best thing about this image is that we can see galaxies spread all over the background, and we can zoom in to see many of them very clearly. Webb’s cameras are very sensitive to light and thus we should be getting views and backgrounds like this one a lot in future images as well.
The fourth and last image of this set is of Carina Nebula. With JWST's powerful infrared capabilities, this is the first time we see areas of star birth so clearly. The ability to peek past gas and dust clouds will allow the telescope in the future to study closely the process of rapid star birth in these stellar nurseries.
You can click through the links attached above to read more about these images and to see or download the larger and more high-quality images from NASA. Or go to this link to see all of them side by side.
You should also definitely check out this article by astronomer Phill Plait, where he in great detail explains whatever is going on in these images and what’s more to come.
See you next time, till then enjoy yourself with these wonderful views of the universe never seen before. 👋