The James Webb Telescope Captures Colorful Images of the Farthest Galaxy

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Another collection of photos captured by the James Webb Telescope will be released by the US Space Agency (NASA) in a global presentation on Tuesday.

“These images will remind the world that America can do great things, and remind the American people – especially children – that nothing is beyond our capabilities,” said President Biden.

“We can see possibilities that no one has seen before. We can go to places no one has been before.”

President Joe Biden lauds the release of the first full color images from the James Webb Telescope (NASA)

The first image of the US$10 billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The telescope was launched on December 25 last year and is billed as the successor to the famous Hubble Space Telescope.

This telescope will observe the universe, although it has two purposes. First, photograph the first star that shone in the universe more than 13.5 billion years ago. Second, investigate distant planets to see if they are habitable.

The photo shown in front of President Biden demonstrates the ability of the James Webb Telescope to pursue the first objective.

BBC

What you see is a group of galaxies in the constellation Volans in the Southern Hemisphere known as SMACS 0723.

The star cluster isn’t really that far away – “only” about 4.6 billion light-years away. But the massive mass of this star cluster has bent and magnified the light of distant objects, even farther away.

It was the effect of gravity; equivalent to the zoom lens of an astronomical telescope.

Telescope James Webb, with a gold mirror 6.5 meters wide and super-sensitive infrared instruments, have detected the distorted shape (red arc) of galaxies that formed 600 million years after the Big Bang (universe age 13.8 billion years).

And what’s more, scientists can tell from the quality of the data that James Webb has produced that the telescope senses space beyond the farthest object in the image.

As a result, this is perhaps the deepest cosmic field of view ever obtained.

“Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. And the light you see in one of those tiny specks has been traveling for more than 13 billion years,” said NASA administrator Bill Nelson.

“And for the record, we’re going back further, because this is just the first image. They’re going back about 13.6 billion years. And because we know the universe is 13.8 billion years old, you’re going back to square one.”

The Hubble telescope used to stare at the universe for weeks to produce images like this. The James Webb telescope identified the deepest super object with a total time of 12.5 hours.

NASA and its international partners, the European and Canadian Space Agencies, will release another full-color image from the James Webb Telescope on Tuesday.

One of the topics to be discussed will touch on another overarching goal: the study of planets outside our Solar System.

The James Webb telescope has analyzed the atmosphere of WASP-96 b, a giant planet more than 1,000 light-years from Earth. That analysis will tell us about the chemical composition of the atmosphere.

WASP-96 b orbits too close to its parent star to sustain life. But one day, the James Webb Telescope is expected to be able to spy on a planet containing gas in the air that is similar to enveloping Earth – a tantalizing prospect that might hint at the existence of biology.

BBC

NASA scientists have no doubt that the James Webb Telescope will perform its function.

“I’ve seen the first picture and it’s spectacular,” said Dr Amber Straughn of the photo.

“They’re amazing as they’re in the pictures. But the clues from the science we’re going to do with those pictures is what makes me so excited,” he told BBC News.

Dr Eric Smith, program scientist for the Webb project, said the public had understood the importance of the new telescope.

“The design of the James Webb Telescope, I think, is largely the reason the public is so amazed by this mission. It looks like a spaceship from the future.”

(it/it)

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