The first image of NASA’s new $ 15 billion space telescope is the farthest humanity has ever seen. Photo provided by the Public Dissemination Office / AAP of the Space Telescope Science Institute.
by Seth Borenstein, AAP Washington, DC
Our view of the universe has just expanded, with the first image of NASA’s new space telescope full of galaxies and offering the deepest view of the cosmos.
The first image of the $ 10 billion ($ 15 billion) James Webb space telescope is the farthest humanity has ever seen in time and distance, closer to the dawn of time and the edge of the universe.
The “deep field” image posted at a White House event is full of stars, with massive galaxies in the foreground and faint, extremely distant galaxies being observed.
Part of the picture is light not long after the Big Bang, which was 13.8 billion years ago.
“We will give humanity a new vision of the cosmos,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson told reporters last month in a briefing.
“And it’s a sight we’ve never seen before.”
More images will be released later this Tuesday, including a vision of a giant gas planet outside our solar system, two images of a nebula where stars of spectacular beauty are born and die, and an update of a classic five-image clustered galaxies that dance. around each other.
The largest and most powerful space telescope in the world was launched last December from French Guiana to South America.
It reached its viewpoint 1.6 million km from Earth in January.
Then began the long process of aligning the mirrors, the infrared detectors cold enough to operate and calibrate scientific instruments, all protected by a parasol the size of a tennis court that keeps the telescope cool.
The plan is to use the telescope to look back to the point that scientists have a vision of the early days of the universe about 13.7 billion years ago and bring cosmic objects closer, even our own solar system, with a more focused approach. sharp.
Webb is considered the successor to the hugely successful, but aging, Hubble Space Telescope.
Hubble has looked up to 13.4 billion years. He found the light wave signature of an extremely bright galaxy in 2016.
Astronomers measure how far they see each other in light years, with a light year of 9.3 trillion kilometers.
“Webb can look back in time to just after the Big Bang looking for galaxies so far away that light has taken many billions of years to reach from these galaxies to our telescopes,” said Jonathan Gardner, an assistant scientist at Webb’s project during the media conference, he said.
At what distance was that first image seen? Over the next few days, astronomers will make complex calculations to find out how old these galaxies are, project scientist Klaus Pontoppidan said last month.
Deeper vision of the cosmos “is not a record to be held for long,” Pontoppidan said, as scientists are expected to use the telescope to dig even deeper.
Thomas Zurbuchen, the head of NASA’s science mission, said that when he saw the images he was thrilled and so were his colleagues.
“It’s very hard not to look at the universe in a new light and not just have a deeply personal moment,” he said.
At 6.4m, Webb’s gold-plated flower-shaped mirror is the largest and most sensitive ever sent into space.
It consists of 18 segments, one of which was hit by a larger-than-expected micrometeoroid in May. Four strokes of micrometeoroids anterior to the mirror were smaller.
Despite the impacts, the telescope has continued to exceed mission requirements, with almost no data loss, according to NASA.
NASA is collaborating with Webb with European and Canadian space agencies.
Now I am very excited as this dramatic progress augurs well for reaching the ultimate prize for many astronomers like me: identifying the ‘Cosmic Dawn’, the time when the universe first bathed in the light of the stars, “Richard Ellis, a professor of astrophysics at the University. College London, he said.