James Webb Space Telescope

NASA revealed the first science-quality images from the James Webb Space Telescope on July 12, 2022, marking the beginning of the observatory's tenure.

Regardless of what it is called, the telescope is set to make history. Leading up to the release of the first images, some astronomers have expressed mixed emotions on Twitter, as excitement for the new data and dislike of the name mingle. Over the years, Webb was sometimes severely strapped for funding, and at least once was in danger of being canceled due to soaring costs. "This is just one sliver of data that Webb is providing us, using the NIRISS instrument specifically." Startling new insights could start to stream in quickly as research begins on every conceivable scale in our universe, from our solar system to the very first galaxies. "You get a bunch of what looks like bumps and wiggles to some people, but it's actually full of information," Colón said. Stephan's Quintet is a group of five galaxies that appear preposterously close together, about 290 million light-years away from Earth. Four of the galaxies are locked in a sort of cosmic dance that will one day result in the quartet colliding, and three sport elongated, spiral-like shapes from their interactions. The gas giant world, about half the size of Jupiter, is the closest of the newly revealed objects, at about 1,150 light-years away. Together, the images and data represent the huge potential of the telescope to contribute to scientific research, and signal Webb's transition into an active scientific instrument. The Carina Nebula, one of the brightest and largest nebulas in the sky, is 7,600 light-years away from Earth. Spanning over 300 light-years across, it includes Eta Carinae, a dying supergiant star on the brink of a massive explosion, as well as Trumper 14, one of the youngest known clusters of star formation. The only known cloudless planet, WASP-96 b has been an enigma and a prime target for further study since its discovery in 2013. "This stunning vista of the cosmic cliff of the Carina Nebula reveals new details about this vast stellar nursery.

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.

The first set of science images from the James Webb Space Telescope revealed marvellous stars and galaxies. Space reporter Leah Crane answers all your ...

What’s special about WASP-96b is that it isn’t cloudy – the new spectrum shows some evidence of clouds and haze, but not much. The images are all of systems that are already very well studied, but we just have far more detail now than ever before. I’ve seen 13.5 billion light years quoted – that seems very close to the age of the universe at about 13.8 billion years. In fact, the picture of Stephan’s Quintet that was just released is providing some interesting information on one already. JWST should be able to see between 100 and 250 million years after the big bang! On 12 July, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) released its first set of full-resolution science images.

The long-awaited James Webb Space Telescope's views of the cosmos have finally been released, mesmerizing experts, space nerds and members of the public ...

From this moment on you will always be able to tell the difference between a Hubble image and a JWST image:Hubble stars have four spikes in a cross. "From this moment on you will always be able to tell the difference between a Hubble image and a JWST image: Hubble stars have four spikes in a cross. It’s hard to overstate what impact #JWST is going to have on science, astronomy & our understanding of the universe. Huge congratulations to the international team that has made this possible." In this image — we see galaxies and galaxies- the light from galaxies has traveled billions of years to us! !NASA says in this photo, the Webb’ telescope has photographed just a speck the size of a grain of sand.

A sparkling landscape of baby stars. A foamy blue and orange view of a dying star. Five galaxies in a cosmic dance. The splendours of the universe glowed in ...

Instead of an image, the telescope used its infrared detectors to look at the chemical composition of the planet's atmosphere. The James Webb Space Telescope is powered by Rocket Lab technology. It showed water vapour in the super-hot planet's atmosphere and even found the chemical spectrum of neon. This is so so beautiful," Thomas Zurbuchen, chief of Nasa's science missions, said afterwards. One view was a stunning landscape of orange cliffs. "It's the story of where did we come from." • Southern Ring nebula, which is sometimes called "eight-burst". Images show a dying star with a foamy edge of escaping gas. Webb is considered the successor to the highly successful, but ageing Hubble Space Telescope. A foamy blue and orange view of a dying star. A light-year is 9 trillion kilometres. The splendours of the universe glowed in a new batch of images released from Nasa's powerful new telescope. A sparkling landscape of baby stars.

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.

Much-anticipated images from Hubble's successor show, in brilliant and startling detail, far corners of the unseen universe.

We're going to answer so many questions and then, of course, we're going to have more questions that we never dreamed of. "From a scientific perspective, there is something about humanity that just really wants to know about where we are and to where we came from," LaMassa says. Just being involved in seeing all these different subsystems that need to work together—having 18 different individual mirror segments working as one—for all the instruments getting initial data and starting to process it and getting things working to the point where we could take these amazing images," she says. The space telescope, Hubble's successor, will be able to see back in time, capturing images such as the first galaxies that formed after the big bang, and will offer much-more-detailed views of nebulas and star systems in the distant universe. "And so, we're really seeing for the first time what galaxies looked like in the early universe." But an endeavor doesn't get any more cosmic than that of the $9.7 billion James Webb Space Telescope, which in December launched on a journey 1 million miles from Earth and today released its first batch of images from space.

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.

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.

The five pictures from the most powerful space observatory ever launched offer a deep look back in time and the promise of stellar things to come.

Scientists are ready with well-laid plans to explore the early universe, chart how galaxies form and evolve over time, observe the lifecycles of stars, and delve into the mysteries of exoplanets. Our own atmosphere blocks infrared light from space, which is one reason the Webb has to operate from orbit. But the fact that it’s now in orbit, and operational, stands as a testament to scientific collaboration on a massive scale. The roughly $10 billion telescope allows us to see deeper into space, and farther back towards the origins of our universe, than humans have ever been able to see before. Though Webb will allow us to explore deeper into space than ever before, the telescope will do so much more. Webb also captured images of Stephan’s Quintet, a compact group of five galaxies found in the constellation Pegasus, and of the intriguing planet WASP-96b, a gassy giant some 1,150 light-years from Earth.

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.

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.

The first full-colour picture from the new James Webb Space Telescope has been released - and it does not disappoint.

It looks like a spaceship from the future." "And by the way, we're going back further, because this is just the first image. But the great mass of this cluster has bent and magnified the light of objects that are much, much further away. Webb identified its super-deep objects after only 12.5 hours of observations. It will make all sorts of observations of the sky, but has two overarching goals. And it is even better than that.

The first images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have been released by NASA, following an initial reveal by US President Joe Biden.

JWST’s view of the galaxies in infrared light shows as never before how those interactions are driving the formation of stars inside the galaxies. First up might be the diabetes drug metformin. The power of JWST’s optics are so great that individual stars can even be seen inside the galaxies. One of those observations was a detailed study of the atmosphere of a gas giant planet 1,000 light-years from Earth, called WASP-96 b. Countless more stunning vistas and copious amounts of invaluable data are set to come our way. JWST’s stunning first science image, which was unveiled by Biden on Monday, is a deep view into the universe showing thousands of galaxies, showcasing the immense power of the $10 billion telescope.

Through direct comparison with images from Hubble, you can start to see the exquisite detail and clarity Webb provides.

And the mid-infrared reveals light from a supermassive black hole in the centre of the top galaxy. The detail of the dust distribution and the tug-of-war taking place between the galaxies leaps out from the image. What also stands out is the vast sea of distant galaxies in the background. And that’s just the beginning. The mid-infared also highlights the dust being formed in the expanding gas. The five galaxies are in close proximity. Located some 1120 light-years away, this planet weighs in at about half the mass of Jupiter. This happens at a speed of about 15 kilometres per second, sending out rings of gas and dust. You’ll immediately notice the many elongates arcs, representing background galaxies which have been “gravitationally lensed” as a result of the cluster’s mass. Today we saw the release of the first batch of images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. This is something we have both been waiting on for nearly 25 years. It seems the bar has been raised once again, and Webb is set to herald a new age for astronomy and space research. Now, with the long-awaited first images in our hands, let’s take a look at what they show.

'Ultimate Space Telescope' explores the teamwork it took to get Webb into space and ready for science.

A follow-up documentary about Webb's early discoveries will premiere on NOVA in 2023, PBS added. In 2017, Hurricane Harvey devastated the city of Houston, severely impairing the scientists' access to power and electricity just as they were putting the telescope through a crucial set of tests — yet, they were able to persevere." Since Webb is optimized to study objects in infrared light, it will shed new information on these galaxies. "As astronomers scoured the Hubble deep field, they noticed strange, red amorphous galaxies," PBS said of one of the set of multi-day images. "Originally scheduled to launch in 2007, [Webb] was met with a number of delays," PBS stated. — James Webb Space Telescope: The engineering behind a 'first light machine' that is not allowed to fail

Observatory off to bright start revealing chemical make-up of the universe.

The other is the Southern Ring planetary nebula, about 2500 light-years from Earth, where the telescope captured an expanding cloud of gas surrounding a dying star. ‘This was definitely the first look – these data have hardly been analysed … it is barely scratching the surface of what we are going to learn.’ She suggested that methane and carbon dioxide will likely be detected in WASP-96 b’s atmosphere too. The Webb telescope’s NIRISS also covers a remarkably wide range of wavelengths, including visible red light and a portion of the spectrum that involves wavelengths longer than 1.6µm, which has not previously been accessible from other telescopes. ‘For example, the first spectrum of exoplanets captured by JWST showing signatures of atmospheric water vapour will be a launching point for many, many exciting discoveries. It has now wrapped up its final tests and the first five sets of images and spectra were released on 12 July. Now the $10 billion (£8.4 billion) telescope is fully operational and should have enough fuel for about 20 years of exploration, Nasa said. Nasa describes this as the most detailed near-infrared transmission spectrum of an exoplanet’s atmosphere, noting that it demonstrates the new instrument’s unparalleled ability to analyse atmospheres far away.

NASA reveals five stunning images from the deep space telescope nearly 7 months after its launch.

Scientists all over the world will study the images Webb captures and perhaps find answers to questions about the early years of the universe. The Webb telescope will explore four areas of science: early universe, galaxies over time, the star life cycle and other worlds. As a result, the telescope requires a massive sun shield to protect against solar radiation.

In June, specialists gathered in Baltimore to select images from the James Webb Space Telescope to share with the public. Keeping the results to themselves ...

“I just felt overwhelmed,” said Joe Depasquale, the lead image processor on the project, describing what it had felt like to see one scene of another star-forming nebula come together — something with a more Caravaggio-esque, light-and-shadow effect that wasn’t included in the initial batch of releases. After half an hour of focus on the Carina nebula image, the participants in the early June meeting shifted their attentions to another observation that was also held back from Tuesday’s initial releases. They checked off boxes that vibed with the telescope’s scientific goals: a deeper-than-ever deep field, galaxies pulsing in the void like jellyfish, a star with an attendant exoplanet, star-forming regions like the Carina Nebula and more. Before coloring in the cosmos, though, astronomers had to come up with what to do right after the most powerful set of eyes ever produced had fluttered open for the first time. The Hubble color palette isn’t fussy about matching an exact wavelength that the telescope saw to the exact color it would appear as in human eyes. In parallel, image processors working with Hubble data adopted a color palette that soon came to dominate the wider world of deep cosmic photography. Engineers and image processors also adopted new conventions that have recurred in fictional and real-world depictions of the cosmos ever since. Even reaching this point had taken decades of planning, threatened cancellations, delays upon delays, a pandemic and a round of harrowing reverse origami that was needed to unfold the telescope in deep space without breaking it. Just days later, Time and Life magazines ran the photo alongside poetry, and when the U.S. Postal Service reprinted it on a stamp, it kept a matching quote: the first words of Genesis, which the astronauts had read back to listeners on Earth as they circled the moon. For six weeks, this group — a mix of astronomers, press officers and science communicators — raced to assemble an early highlight reel for the $10 billion space observatory, launched on Christmas Day last year. Much of that is because the Webb operates in infrared wavelengths. This is full of jets!” — at the crisp, hallucinatory grandeur of new stars sprouting from a nebula like seeds from a flower bed.

Astronomers around the world anxiously await their opportunity to pore over the data gathered by the James Webb Space Telescope.

People are going to use lots of different techniques to get as much science as they can out of the data." "And so they get priority, because we want the community to have as much data available, in particular by the time they get to propose again." "Those data will be released to the principal investigators of those programs in the next day or two, and some of them are public," he said. Making that data available to the public as the program continues will be key to unlocking new discoveries, he noted. The telescope contains four different instruments that can combine to collect data in 17 different modes. "The first year of science observations have already begun.

Yesterday's big reveal of pictures from the James Webb Space Telescope are not just dazzling; they also pack a lot of science.

A scientific graph is not nearly as striking as a cosmic photo, but in this case the graph has a story to tell. Webb has the capability not just to image the Southern Ring Nebula, but to analyze its chemistry, understanding more about how stars shed their matter as they die. Webb captured an image of this pair of elderly stars orbiting each other approximately 2,500 light years from Earth. As the stars enter the end of their lives, they give off gas and dust that form the nebulae, or clouds, that surround them. Clusters of young stars appear as bright sparkles in the image and thousands of more-distant galaxies are visible in the background. Webb captured the greatest image ever taken of Stephan’s Quintet, a cluster of five galaxies, first seen by astronomers in 1877. The formations that look like cliffs are vast peaks of dust and gas, some as tall as seven light years.