Visible to the unaided eye, the Carina Nebula is the home of the most luminous known star in the Milky Way as well as the Eta Carinae binary system, which includes a massive sun expected to explode in a supernova blast in the (astronomically) near future. Stephan's Quintet as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope.įinally, the Webb team unveiled a mind-boggling view showing a segment of the Carina Nebula, a vast star-forming region in the southern constellation Carina some 7,600 light-years from Earth that's four times as large as the more famous Orion Nebula. The image unveiled Tuesday resolves previously unseen stars and clusters in the galaxies and even captures the light generated by debris racing around a supermassive black hole. Galaxy mergers are a commonplace occurrence across the history of the universe, and studying the details of such collisions is one of Webb's major objectives. Then came a mesmerizing image of Stephan's Quintet, a well-known collection of five galaxies in the constellation Pegasus 290 million light-years from Earth that was discovered in 1877, the first such close-together grouping of galaxies to be detected.įour of the five galaxies are spirals that are gravitationally interacting in a slow-motion train wreck of sorts in the process of merging to eventually become a single huge elliptical galaxy. The Southern Ring Nebula as viewed by the James Webb Space Telescope. But Webb's view goes much further, showing not one but two stars at the heart of the nebula and much more detail in the structure of the expanding shells of gas. The Hubble Space Telescope's earlier view of the Southern Ring Nebula was spectacular in its own right, showing a huge smoke-ring-like cloud surrounding a brilliant inner star. It's a fate that awaits the sun in another five billion years or so. Next up was a stunning view of the Southern Ring Nebula, a half-light-year-wide cloud of expanding gas and debris thrown off by a central star nearing the end of its life as its core runs out of nuclear fuel and fusion grinds to a halt. No one is promising any such achievements from Webb, but the ability to analyze exoplanet atmospheres with the world's most powerful infrared telescope is a major step in that direction. Astronomers may someday be able to detect the effects of biological activity on planets in far-flung solar systems by studying the compounds in their atmospheres. Taking spectra of exoplanet atmospheres is not new, but Webb's sharper infrared vision dramatically advances the state of the art, allowing more data to be collected in less time. For the first time, we've detected evidence of clouds in this exoplanet's atmosphere: #UnfoldTheUniverse /f3HOX0HKis- NASA July 12, 2022 captured the signature of water on giant gas planet WASP 96-b, which orbits a star 1,150 light-years away. The promise of this telescope is amazing."Ĭlouds on another world. Even so, "we're making discoveries and we really haven't even starting trying yet. Program scientist Eric Smith described the early release images as the result of "practice runs" with Webb's four instruments. "These are incredible capabilities we've never had before." Part of the Carina Nebula as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope. "From the data I've seen so far, from the work we've seen in commissioning and then this first week of science, yeah, this is going to be revolutionary," said Jane Rigby, the Webb operations project manager at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. ![]() To astronomers, the views from Webb are nothing short of breathtaking. Greenbelt, Maryland - After a presidential reveal Monday, NASA unveiled more spectacular "first light" pictures from the James Webb Space Telescope on Tuesday, showcasing interacting galaxies, the death throes of a doomed star and a stellar nursery where massive young suns are being born, blazing with gale-force solar winds that sculpt vast clouds of gas and dust.Įven to the untrained eye, the images carry the observer well beyond the realm of the iconic Hubble Space Telescope, which has produced a steady stream of discoveries and spectacular images over the past three decades.
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