The US space agency “NASA” has published the complete set of first images taken by the James Webb telescope, which is the most powerful of its kind ever, in snapshots that mark the beginning of a new era in astronomy that scientists have been waiting for for many years.
Sharjah 24 – AFP:
The US space agency, NASA, announced the publication of the full set of first images taken by the James Webb Telescope, which is the most powerful of its kind ever, in snapshots that mark the beginning of a new era in astronomy that scientists have been waiting for for many years.
The program included an hour-long live broadcast, which included the publication of images one following the other that showed two nebulae “which are two groups of celestial bodies”, showing the life cycle of stars, a planet outside the solar system, and a compact group of galaxies.
Bill Nelson, head of NASA, explained that each image is a new discovery, considering that each snapshot will give humanity a view of the universe as we have never seen it before.
And on Monday, NASA revealed to the world the first image from the James Webb Telescope, in a stunning snapshot showing galaxies that formed shortly following the Big Bang more than 13 billion years ago.
One of the main missions of James Webb’s telescope, a $10 billion masterpiece of space engineering, is to explore the early ages of the universe.
In astronomy, diving into space is equivalent to going back in time, as the observed light has traveled for billions of years before reaching us.
The publication of the images constitutes the official launch of the telescope’s scientific activities, the content of which has been kept secret to increase suspense.
Among the published images, two images of nebulae with two clouds of gas and space dust.
The first nebula “I called it Carina”, is located 7600 light-years away, and it embodies the formation of stars, and it includes large clumps of them and exceeds its size several times the size of the sun.
The second is the “Southern Ring” nebula, which is called a planetary nebula although there is no connection between it and the planets, and it is a cloud of gas around a fading star.
The images also show the “Stefan Pentagram”, a group of galaxies interacting with each other, while one of the images published Tuesday showed a planet outside the solar system, that is, orbiting a star other than our sun, and it constitutes one of the main research axes of the telescope.
Commenting on the photo published on Monday, US President Joe Biden explained, at a ceremony at the White House, that this scientific and color image, which was taken in infrared, is the first of its kind and represents a historic achievement.
And NASA added, these are the deepest and clearest images ever taken of the universe.
The image, published by NASA, shows thousands of galaxies that were formed following the Big Bang and the birth of the universe.
In this image, which reveals the secrets of the beginnings of the universe, the telescope targeted the group of galaxies called SMACS 0723, which acts as a magnifying lens, which also allowed the detection of very distant cosmic objects located behind them, an effect called the gravitational lens.
The detailed image was taken following twelve and a half hours of observation, and it shows thousands of galaxies, with thousands of structures in their core that have never been seen before, according to NASA.
Therefore, the research work is just beginning, as NASA indicated, “Researchers will soon begin to learn more regarding the masses, ages, history and composition of these galaxies.
Cornell University astronomer Jonathan Lunin commented: A new era in astronomy has begun, describing the image as “fantastic.” Although this image is by no means as far as the James Webb Telescope can see, it shows the power of this wonderful telescope. Great sensitivity, a wide range of wavelengths, and great image clarity.
Publishing the full set of images will enable experts to begin interpreting the data collected using custom software, giving the go-ahead for a fascinating science adventure.
One of James Webb’s main areas of research is exoplanets (“planets orbiting a star other than our sun”), and regarding 5,000 of them have been discovered since 1995, but they are still very mysterious.
The goal is to study their atmosphere, to determine if some of them can be transformed into worlds favorable to the development of life.
Thanks to its observations in the near and mid-infrared, the James Webb Telescope will be able to see through clouds of dust that might not be explored by its predecessor, the famous Hubble Space Telescope. But it works mainly in visible and ultraviolet light.
The other major differences between the two telescopes are that James Webb’s main mirror is regarding three times larger than the Hubble mirror and can travel much farther: 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, as opposed to 600 kilometers from Hubble.
The publication of these first images marks the official start of the first cycle of scientific observation of the telescope.
Hundreds of monitoring projects, proposed by researchers from all over the world, were selected by a panel of specialists for this first year of operation.
The telescope is equipped with a quantity of fuel, which allowed it to work for 20 years, while 20 thousand people worked in this project from around the world, which made it the fruit of a huge international cooperation.
