NASA on Tuesday unveiled a new batch of images from its new powerful space telescope, including a blue and foamy orange photograph of a dying star.
The first image of the US $ 10 billion James Webb (JWST) space telescope was released Monday in the White House, a twist of distant galaxies that delved deeper into the cosmos than humanity has ever seen.
The four additional photos posted on Tuesday included more photos of cosmic beauty.
On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled the first image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. (NASA)
With one exception, the latest images showed parts of the universe seen by other telescopes. But Webb’s great power, the distant location of the Earth, and the use of the infrared light spectrum showed them a new light.
“Each image is a new discovery and each will give humanity a vision of humanity we’ve never seen before,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said Tuesday, rhapsodizing images showing “star formation.” , devouring black holes “.
Webb’s use of the infrared light spectrum allows the telescope to see through cosmic dust and “see the light of distant light from the corners of the universe,” he said.
“We have really changed the understanding of our universe,” said European Space Agency Director-General Josef Aschbacher.
European and Canadian space agencies teamed up with NASA to build the powerful telescope.
Images of:
- The nebula in the southern ring, sometimes called the “eight bursts.” About 2,500 light-years away, it shows an expanding cloud of gas surrounding a dying star.
- The Carina Nebula, one of the brightest stellar nurseries in the sky, is about 7,600 light-years away.
- Five galaxies in a cosmic dance, 290 million light-years away. Stephan’s Quintet was first seen 225 years ago in the constellation Pegasus.
- A blue giant planet called WASP-96b. It is about the size of Saturn and is 1,150 light-years away. A gaseous planet is not a candidate for life elsewhere, but a key target for astronomers.
The images were posted one by one at an event at NASA’s Goddard Space Center that included cheerleaders with pompoms the color of the telescope’s golden mirrors.
A huge mosaic of the Stephan Quintet is the largest image to date of the James Webb Space Telescope, which covers about one-fifth the diameter of the moon. It contains more than 150 million pixels and is built from nearly 1,000 separate image files. The visual clustering of five galaxies was captured by JWST’s near-infrared camera (NIRCam) and medium-infrared instrument (MIRI). (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)
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 kilometers 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.
Webb is considered the successor to the hugely successful, but aging, Hubble Space Telescope.