Whereas the Hubble Space Telescope required weeks to take such deep-field shots, JWST spent only 12.5 hours to grab this view of SMACS 0723 and beyond. It’s more than just a pretty picture, too, as JWST’s impeccable infrared vision even allowed researchers to determine the basic chemical composition of a 13.1 billion-year-old galaxy in the background.
JWST: The start of something special
Based on the quality of yesterday’s deep image, as well as the other breathtaking images released today (July 12) during a livestream on NASA TV, the world’s largest and most powerful space telescope is clearly going to be a juggernaut.
The remaining images released today, selected by a team of representatives from NASA, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the Canadian Space Agency, and the European Space Agency, spanned a range of different types of targets that JWST will investigate throughout its mission. Today’s targets include two nebulae, a tight group of interacting galaxies, and a strange exoplanet in our Milky Way.
Specifically, today’s images showcase the Carina Nebula, a stellar nursery for massive stars that’s located some 7,600 light-years away; the Southern Ring Nebula, the ejected remains of a dying star located some 2,000 light-years away; Stephen’s Quintet, a compact interacting galaxy group located some 290 million light-years away; and WASP-96 b, a hot gas giant that orbits its star every 3.4 days and is located more than 1,000 light years away.
NASA delivers first batch of images from James Webb Space Telescope
Source: Trending Update Article
0 Comments