NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the result of a collaboration with the ESA (European Space Agency) and the CSA (Canadian Space Agency), will reveal, this Monday, July 11 and Tuesday, July 12, its first detailed images of the universe, in addition to spectroscopic data collected during its few months in orbit.
For this reason, NASA published the list of cosmic objects for the first observations of the
Webbto be revealed in a live broadcast,
starting Monday July 11. Each image will be available simultaneously on social networks, as well as on the
agency website.
– Carina Nebula: This is one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky, located approximately 7,600 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina. Nebulae are stellar nurseries where stars form, and this one in particular is home to many massive stars hundreds of times larger than the Sun.
–
WASP-96b (espectro): WASP-96b es un
giant planet outside our solar system, composed mainly of gas. The celestial body, located almost 1,150 light-years from Earth, orbits its star every 3-4 days. It is about half the mass of Jupiter and its discovery was announced in 2014.
– South Ring Nebula: Also known as the “Eight Bursts,” this formation is a planetary nebula, an expanding cloud of gas surrounding a dying star. It is almost half a light-year across and approximately 2,000 light-years from Earth.
–
Stephan’s Quintet: About 290 million light-years away, Stephan’s Quintet is located in the constellation Pegasus. It stands out for being the first compact group of
galaxies discovered in 1787. Four of the five galaxies within the quintet are locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters.
– SMACS 0723: Massive galaxy clusters in the foreground magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, allowing deep-field viewing of both extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations.
It should be noted that the images that will be presented were selected by an international committee of representatives from NASA, ESA, CSA and the Space Telescope Science Institute. Its launch marks the official start of Webb’s science operations. Even astronomical teams from around the
world have already requested time to use the telescope through a competitive process, in which
astronomers they call their first “cycle” or year of observations.
First images and a special ceremony
The first images collected by the telescope will be presented this Monday, July 11 at 4 pm (Peru time), in a special ceremony that will be attended by US President Joe Biden. As reported by the
NASA on their social networks, the unveiling will be broadcast live.
This presentation, however, will only be a preview of the total number of images that will be presented next Tuesday, July 12, starting at 8:45 am (Peruvian time).
Long calibration process
Since its launch, the preparation and calibration of the telescope
James Webb it has not been easy. From February 9, 2022, NASA astronomers, engineers and scientists participated in long days to fine-tune this new space instrument.
For example, the specialists used the data taken with the NIRCam (a space camera on board the equipment) to progressively align the telescope. The maneuvers were simulated and rehearsed several times, until finally the final operation could be carried out.
In addition, they had to align 18 segments of the telescope’s primary mirrorto match each other at a fraction of a wavelength of light (approximately 50 nanometers).
To put this in perspective, if Webb’s main mirror were the size of the US, each segment would be the size of Texas, and the team took care to align the height of those segments with each other to an accuracy of about 38 millimeters. . Finally, the alignment process could be completed at the end of April 2022.
Telescope observes “galaxies everywhere”
After a full review, it was confirmed that the
Webb it is capable of capturing sharp, well-focused images with each of its four powerful scientific instruments on board. Scott Acton, wavefront detection and monitoring scientist at the
Webbcould not contain his excitement as he revealed that this instrument was able to capture “
galaxies everywhere“.
“With the completion of the telescope alignment and mid-life effort, my role in the James Webb Space Telescope mission has come to an end,” Acton said. “These images have profoundly changed my way of seeing the universe. We are surrounded by a symphony of creation. There are galaxies everywhere! I hope everyone can see them.”
Peruvian was part of the Webb project
On December 25, 2021, when everyone shared Christmas with their families,
Aracely Quispe was working on a historic mission: from the facilities of the
Space Telescope Science Institutein Baltimore, Maryland, coordinated the early operations of the James Webb Space Telescope
.However, the road was not easy. As a child, she had to leave her beloved town of Marripón (Lambayeque), where she often had to light her nights with lamps because there was no electricity. Finally, Ella Quispe came to the US when she was 21 years old, after studying systems engineering in Peru. She there she continued with her studies until she achieved seven academic degrees focused on science,
astronautical engineering and geospatial intelligence.
Currently, in addition to her work as a NASA engineer, Quispe also leads the ‘Aracely Quispe Neira Project (AQN)’, which seeks to train young leaders in the field of science and technology; breaking paradigms and social, economic and gender stereotypes.
Upcoming NASA Projects
After having everything ready for the start of Webb operations, NASA continues with projects to put space instruments into orbit. One of them will be the space telescope
Nancy Grace Romanwhich will study faint streams of stars that extend far beyond the apparent edges of many galaxies.
But how will this telescope differ from the
Hubble and Webb? NASA experts explain that both would have to join hundreds of small images to fully see these structures around nearby galaxies. Roman, however, will do so in one shot for astronomers to use these observations in exploring how galaxies grow and the nature of dark matter.
Thus, this telescope will be able to improve these astronomical observations by identifying individual stars to understand the stellar populations of each flow and see stellar flows of various sizes in even more galaxies.
NASA believes that this will also allow more clues to be gathered about the origin of various star systems and even the Universe itself.
Published: 7/10/2022