Located 500 million light-years away, the James Webb telescope still managed to obtain new images.
Images of unparalleled precision. With the James Webb telescopeNASA unveiled this Wednesday, August 3 Never-before-seen images of the Cartwheel galaxy. The rings appear with unprecedented clarity, despite being 500 million light-years from Earth. Like our Milky Way, astronomers believe that thehe Chariot Wheel galaxy was once a spiral galaxy.
The Incredible Range of the James Webb Telescope
This is not the first time that man has managed to have images of this galaxy. Indeed, the Cartwheel galaxy had already been observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. But this time, with the James Webb telescope, new details hitherto hidden are revealed by infrared capabilities of the last.
Time to reinvent the wheel.
Here’s the Cartwheel Galaxy in a whole new light — as a composite image from 2 instruments on the Webb telescope. Webb uniquely offers not just a snapshot of the galaxy’s current state, but also a peek into its past & future: https://t.co/QdXPwAwwac pic.twitter.com/SJD3wTxwRP
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) August 2, 2022
Here, the composite image also features two other smaller galaxies, as well as many others in the background. NASA would like to point out that the Cartwheel galaxy is still in a state “transient”. If the James Webb telescope “provides us with an overview of (her) current state, it also gives us an idea of what has happened to her in the past, and how she will evolve in the future”, says the space agency.