Washington: James Webb Space TelescopeThe most powerful observatory ever to be placed in orbit, has revealed the “deepest and sharpest infrared image ever recorded of the early universe” from 13 billion years ago. NASA Said Monday.
The stunning shot, revealed at a White House briefing by President Joe Biden, is filled with thousands of galaxies and contains the faintest objects ever seen, colored in blue, orange and white tones from the infrared.
“This telescope is one of humanity’s great engineering achievements,” he said.
Known as Webb’s first deep field, it reflects the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, which acts as a gravitational lens, magnifying the more distant galaxies behind it.
Webb’s primary imager NIRCam – which operates in the near-infrared wavelength spectrum because light from the early universe is stretched by the time it reaches us – has brought these faint background galaxies into sharp focus.
Webb compiled the overall shot in 12.5 hours, far more than the Hubble Space Telescope could achieve in weeks.
The next set of images will be released on Tuesday.
An international committee decided that the first wave of images would include the Carina Nebula, a giant cloud of dust and gas 7600 light-years away.
The Carina Nebula is famous for its colossal pillars, which include “Mystic Mountain,” a three-light-year-tall cosmic peak captured in an iconic image by the Hubble Space Telescope, by far humanity’s premier space observatory.
Webb has also performed a spectroscopy – analysis of light that reveals detailed information – on a distant gas giant called WASP-96b, which was discovered in 2014.
About 1,150 light-years away from Earth, WASP-96 b is about half the mass of Jupiter and orbits its star in just 3.4 days.
STSI astronomer Nestor Espinoza told AFP that previous exoplanet spectroscopy done using existing instruments was very limited compared to Webb.
“It’s like living in a room that’s too dark and you only have a tiny pinhole that you can see,” he said of the former technology. Now, with the web, “You’ve opened a huge window, you can see all the little details.”
Launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana in December 2021, Webb is orbiting the Sun at a distance of one million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth, in a region of space called the second Lagrange point.
Here, it remains in a fixed position relative to Earth and the Sun, requiring minimal fuel for course correction.
A marvel of engineering, the total project cost is estimated at $10 billion, making it one of the most expensive scientific platforms ever built, comparable to the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
Webb’s primary mirror is 21 feet (6.5 m) wide and is composed of 18 gold-coated mirror segments. Like a camera held in one’s hand, the composition must remain as still as possible to get the best shots.
Charlie Atkinson, chief engineer of the James Webb Space Telescope program at main contractor Northrop Grumman, told AFP it doesn’t budge more than 17 millionths of a millimeter.
After the first images, astronomers from around the world will get part of the time at the telescope, with projects being competitively selected through a process in which applicants and selectors do not know each other’s identities to reduce bias.
Thanks to an efficient launch, NASA estimates that Webb has enough propellant for a life of 20 years, as it works in conjunction with the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes to answer basic questions about the universe.
The stunning shot, revealed at a White House briefing by President Joe Biden, is filled with thousands of galaxies and contains the faintest objects ever seen, colored in blue, orange and white tones from the infrared.
“This telescope is one of humanity’s great engineering achievements,” he said.
Known as Webb’s first deep field, it reflects the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, which acts as a gravitational lens, magnifying the more distant galaxies behind it.
Webb’s primary imager NIRCam – which operates in the near-infrared wavelength spectrum because light from the early universe is stretched by the time it reaches us – has brought these faint background galaxies into sharp focus.
Webb compiled the overall shot in 12.5 hours, far more than the Hubble Space Telescope could achieve in weeks.
The next set of images will be released on Tuesday.
An international committee decided that the first wave of images would include the Carina Nebula, a giant cloud of dust and gas 7600 light-years away.
The Carina Nebula is famous for its colossal pillars, which include “Mystic Mountain,” a three-light-year-tall cosmic peak captured in an iconic image by the Hubble Space Telescope, by far humanity’s premier space observatory.
Webb has also performed a spectroscopy – analysis of light that reveals detailed information – on a distant gas giant called WASP-96b, which was discovered in 2014.
About 1,150 light-years away from Earth, WASP-96 b is about half the mass of Jupiter and orbits its star in just 3.4 days.
STSI astronomer Nestor Espinoza told AFP that previous exoplanet spectroscopy done using existing instruments was very limited compared to Webb.
“It’s like living in a room that’s too dark and you only have a tiny pinhole that you can see,” he said of the former technology. Now, with the web, “You’ve opened a huge window, you can see all the little details.”
Launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana in December 2021, Webb is orbiting the Sun at a distance of one million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth, in a region of space called the second Lagrange point.
Here, it remains in a fixed position relative to Earth and the Sun, requiring minimal fuel for course correction.
A marvel of engineering, the total project cost is estimated at $10 billion, making it one of the most expensive scientific platforms ever built, comparable to the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
Webb’s primary mirror is 21 feet (6.5 m) wide and is composed of 18 gold-coated mirror segments. Like a camera held in one’s hand, the composition must remain as still as possible to get the best shots.
Charlie Atkinson, chief engineer of the James Webb Space Telescope program at main contractor Northrop Grumman, told AFP it doesn’t budge more than 17 millionths of a millimeter.
After the first images, astronomers from around the world will get part of the time at the telescope, with projects being competitively selected through a process in which applicants and selectors do not know each other’s identities to reduce bias.
Thanks to an efficient launch, NASA estimates that Webb has enough propellant for a life of 20 years, as it works in conjunction with the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes to answer basic questions about the universe.