The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has already broadened humanity’s vision more in time and space than ever before, giving an impressive look at the deepest, sharpest infrared image of the early Universe so far.
Now, NASA has just presented five most stunning full-color images captured by the most ambitious telescopes humanity has ever built.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Gregory L. Robinson, director of the James Webb Space Telescope program, said before the revelation.
And boy was he right!
Of course, the images have been colored during processing, so while they may not be accurate to the naked eye, they still represent real data and make it easier for scientists to distinguish and understand the complex structures being imaged. These improvements are exclusively for science.
Surprisingly, what we see here is only worth five days of telescope images !! They are the culmination of decades of hard work by many people around the world and this is just the beginning. So enjoy these amazing views that are clearer and more detailed than ever.
The southern ring nebula
What you can see below are spectacular death waves from the Southern Ring Nebula: gas shells that have shuddered from the dying stars.
The southern ring nebula, also known as NGC 3132, is about 2,000 light-years away and is a magnificent bright spot in the southern constellation Vela.
There are two stars in the center, clearly visible in the image on the bottom right. The faintest is a white dwarf; the collapsed core of a dead star that, during its lifetime, was up to eight times the mass of the Sun. It reached the end of its life, exploded its outer layers, and the nucleus collapsed into an ultradense object: up to 1.4 times the mass of the Sun, packaged into an object the size of Earth. Although it still shines, it’s only because of the residual heat. For billions of years, it will cool until it becomes a dark, dead object.
For the first time, JWST has been able to reveal this star, surrounded by dust. The brightest star is in an earlier stage of its evolution and will one day explode in its own nebula.
(NASA, ESA, CSA and STScI)
On the left, Webb’s near-infrared camera (NIRCam) reveals orange hydrogen bubbles from the newly formed expansions, as well as a blue mist of hot ionized gas from the dead star’s overheated core.
On the right, in the image captured by Webb’s Infrared Instrument (MIRI), the blue hydrocarbons form patterns similar to the oranges in the image above, because they cluster on the surface of the hydrogen dust rings.
“Webb will allow astronomers to delve into many more details about planetary nebulae like this,” NASA explains. “Understanding what molecules are present and where they are found through gas and dust shells will help researchers hone their knowledge of these objects.”
To provide context on the new level of detail, here’s Hubble’s vision of the Southern Ring Nebula, taken in 1998.
(Hubble)
Read more about the image of the southern ring nebula.
The deep field image
We’ve already seen the deep field image of SMACS 0723, full of galaxies frozen in time billions of years ago. Today, Webb’s team provided more information about the image.
Why do some of the galaxies in this image look bent? The combined mass of this cluster of galaxies acts as a “gravitational lens,” bending the rays of light from more distant galaxies behind it, magnifying them. The light from the farthest galaxy here traveled 13.1 billion years to us. pic.twitter.com/XaZkngQqvg
– NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) July 12, 2022
Read more about the Deep Field image.
Exoplanet WASP-96b
One of JWST’s targets was the exoplanet WASP-96b, an inflated, hot world that is so close to its star that it only has a 3.5-day orbit on Earth. It is moving around a Sun-like star 1,150 light-years away.
WASP-96b has a mass less than half that of Jupiter and a diameter 1.2 times larger, so it is much more inflated than any gas giant we have in our Solar System, and also much hotter, with a temperature above 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. (538 degrees Celsius).
What’s fascinating is that JWST has been able to detect evidence of clouds and fog in the exoplanet’s atmosphere, capturing “the different signature of water”.
(NASA, ESA, CSA and STScI)
By observing tiny decreases in the brightness of specific light colors over a 6.4-hour period on June 21, JWST was able to reveal the presence of specific gas molecules on the planet. This is the most detailed observation of the atmosphere of an exoplanet we have ever received.
How it works? When an exoplanet passes between us and its host star, which is known as transit, a small amount of light from the star should pass through the star’s atmosphere, if it has one. Scientists can look at the spectrum of this light to look for brighter or dimmer wavelengths of light that has been absorbed and re-emitted by elements in the atmosphere. This can tell us what these elements are.
What is interesting is that previous observations suggested that WASP-96b had a clear, cloudless atmosphere. So we still have a bit to learn about this strange exoplanet.
This isn’t the first time we’ve detected water in the atmosphere of an exoplanet (the Hubble Space Telescope did it in 2013), but Webb’s detection is faster and much more detailed, and only hints at the potential of what we waiting for our understanding of alien worlds.
Read more about WASP-96b observations.
Stephan’s Quintet
Stephan’s Quintet is a group of galaxies enclosed in a cosmic dance with collisions and new stars exploding (the red areas in the image below).
The new JWST image of the Stephan Quintet is monstrously massive, covers an area of the sky about one-fifth the diameter of the Moon (seen from Earth) and contains more than 150 million pixels. It was built from about 1,000 image files, and helps us understand how these dramatic galactic interactions shape the evolution of galaxies.
(NASA, ESA, CSA and STScI)
In the highest galaxy in this image, NGC 7319, scientists identified signs of material revolving around a massive black hole. The light energy it emits from all the material it devours is 40 billion times that of our Sun.
Although there are five galaxies in sight, only four of them are really together: the one on the left, NGC 7320, is much closer to us 40 million light-years away, while the others they are about 290 million light-years away.
You can compare the JWST image with the 2009 Hubble view.
Webb’s mosaic is his largest image to date, covering an area of the sky 1/5 the diameter of the Moon (seen from Earth). It contains more than 150 million pixels and is built from about 1,000 image files. Compare the new image with the 2009 view of @NASAHubble, shown here! pic.twitter.com/SbulK1GIjN
– NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) July 12, 2022
Read more about the image here.
The Carina Nebula
Last, but not least, is the beautiful Carina Nebula, as we have never seen it before, with hundreds of new stars. This amazing image shows the edge of a nearby young star-forming region, also called NGC 3324.
The striking detail of the JWST infrared image provides an incredible sense of depth and texture and there are many new and mysterious structures to explore.
(NASA, ESA, CSA and STScI)
Known as the “Cosmic Cliffs”, the highest peak in this image has a striking height of 7 light-years, with blue ionized gas expelled by intense radiation.
The top is where newborn stars are exploding in life and the stellar wind they produce drives away the orange gases, which in turn also ignite new stars or can turn them off before they ever do.
What’s even more amazing is that we’re all made up of the same star things we can see in this picture.
Read more about the image of the Carina Nebula.