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NASA unveils first images from James Webb Space Telescope
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2022/07/11/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-images/
The dimmer star at the center of this scene of the Southern Ring Nebula has been sending out rings of gas and dust for thousands of years in all directions, and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed for the first time that this star is cloaked in dust. (NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI/NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and The ERO Production Team)
NASA on Tuesday released the first set of full-color images and data obtained by the revolutionary $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope, which so far has shown itself far more powerful, and able to see further into the depths of space and time, than the acclaimed Hubble. Hundreds of people — scientists, engineers, members of Congress — gathered in an auditorium at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., for the big reveal. It was a spirited scene, replete with Goddard interns waving pom-poms and cheering as VIPs entered the room.
The Webb project has been a long and difficult journey filled with hazards, but it has produced spectacular images that the space agency and its international partners are eager to share with the world. “The fact that it worked pretty much perfect, is totally amazing,” project manager Bill Ochs said prior to the start of the ceremony. “I always expected to have a few little gotchas — things that come and along and bite you.” But nothing bit. All the things that can go wrong with a complex mission like this are just old news at this point, systems engineer Mike Menzel said as he awaited the release of the new imagery. “The new news is that the telescope right now is performing twice as good as we expected,” Menzel said. NASA on Friday identified the five initial “targets” of the Webb:
Wasp-96 b
This is a giant planet, maybe half the size of Jupiter, that circles a star 1,150 light-years from Earth. The planet is too close to the brilliant star to be resolved as an individual object, but an instrument on the telescope has obtained the spectra of the planet, a scientifically important feat because it can reveal the composition of the planet’s atmosphere.
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. The observation, which reveals the presence of specific gas molecules based on tiny decreases in the brightness of precise colors of light, is the most detailed of its kind to date, demonstrating Webb’s unprecedented ability to analyze atmospheres hundreds of light-years away. (NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)
This is a giant planet, maybe half the size of Jupiter, that circles a star 1,150 light-years from Earth. The planet is too close to the brilliant star to be resolved as an individual object, but an instrument on the telescope has obtained the spectra of the planet, a scientifically important feat because it can reveal the composition of the planet’s atmosphere.
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. The observation, which reveals the presence of specific gas molecules based on tiny decreases in the brightness of precise colors of light, is the most detailed of its kind to date, demonstrating Webb’s unprecedented ability to analyze atmospheres hundreds of light-years away. (NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)
Stephan’s Quintet
Five beguiling galaxies, four of them in a cluster about 290 million light-years away, in the constellation Pegasus. The quintet has been previously observed by the Hubble, and the new image will allow a side-by-side comparison of what the two space telescopes see as they gather light in different wavelengths.
This image provided by NASA on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, shows Stephan's Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies, as observed from the Webb Telescope. This mosaic was constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files, according to NASA. (NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI via AP)
Five beguiling galaxies, four of them in a cluster about 290 million light-years away, in the constellation Pegasus. The quintet has been previously observed by the Hubble, and the new image will allow a side-by-side comparison of what the two space telescopes see as they gather light in different wavelengths.
This image provided by NASA on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, shows Stephan's Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies, as observed from the Webb Telescope. This mosaic was constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files, according to NASA. (NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI via AP)
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6 replies
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Water and carbon=possible life... It may be simple but it may prove we are not alone...
1150 million light years away... Meh, just down the street so to speak.
m
