University of Iowa astronomers are admiring new images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) released by NASA earlier this week.
On July 11, NASA unveiled the first JWST image from the distant universe. The image contains the SMACS 0723 galaxy cluster that appeared as 4.6 billion years ago. Today, this image of the distant universe is now the sharpest and deepest image the world has ever seen.
NASA also released a full series of new color images of the JWST on July 12th.
Keri Hoadley, an astrophysicist and assistant professor at the UI, said she was surprised when she first saw the images and that it also made her feel like such an infinitely small part of the universe.
“The large number of galaxies and stars captured with such exquisite detail that we had never seen before, I quickly assumed that JWST would be revolutionary,” Hoadley said.
Hoadley has already been covering JWST’s trip to its courses during the spring semester. In a course, “Exploring the Solar System,” Hoadley has been detailing the latest news about JWST up to this point.
“The images and spectra that JWST will observe will be the cornerstone of much of my own lecture material,” Hoadley said. “It is used both to demonstrate the nature of physics and chemistry in our universe and to excite, delight and inspire students in our classrooms.”
Ken Gayley, associate professor and UI astrophysicist, also said he plans to add the latest images to his course.
“I expect all astronomy teachers in the next decade to show a lot of JWST images in their classes, just as we’ve been showing a lot of Hubble images so far,” Gayley said.
Gayley believes having images from the Hubble and JWST telescope will allow students to make comparisons, giving them a better understanding of the universe.
“Pictures are worth a thousand words,” Gayley said. “And besides, one of my mentors used to say that being able to compare light of different colors and wavelengths is worth a thousand images.”
Gayley also said this will open a door to understanding other atmospheres and planets outside our solar system, as we know nothing about them.
“My area of study focuses on massive bright stars. JWST will help me understand how the types of massive stars that first formed billions of years ago were different from the ones we have today in our the night sky “. said Gayley.
Philip Kaaret, president of the department and professor in the UI’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, studies the black holes in other galaxies and compares them to those in the Earth galaxy.
“Recently, we’ve been trying to figure out the properties of black holes that formed in galaxies when the universe was young, less than a billion years older, by comparing them to black holes observed in relatively close galaxies with similar properties, ”Kaaret said. , “JWST demonstrated that this can be possible.”
As chair of the department, Kaaret is not teaching classes right now, but she believes all teachers will incorporate the new images into their courses.
Gayley said he is proud that the scientific and engineering community has achieved something so remarkable. He knows that the astronomy community has spent a great deal of his research capacity building this instrument, so it was crucial that he pay for it.
Hoadley sees so many benefits and avenues for research that even UI students will be able to take advantage, thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope.
“We will rewrite our astronomy and physics textbooks, based on what we observe and discover with JWST,” Hoadley said. “It will be a complete game changer.”
-by Kate Murphy, Daily Iowan