Historically, NASA has revealed the first color images from the James Webb telescope , which will seek to understand the formation of the universe through infrared.
Came the day. This Tuesday, July 12, NASA has revealed the first color images taken by the James Webb Telescope , its maximum observer 1.5 million kilometers away from our planet.
After revealing the image of the SMACS 0723 cluster together with President Joe Biden , now the space agency has continued with more photographs of other stars, which we will review below.
The first color images from the James Webb Telescope
The first James Webb image focused on the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 about 4.6 billion years old. The light from some of them, however, traveled up to 13 billion years.
This image is incredible for two things: what is seen is only equivalent to the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length in the universe and, in addition, it holds galaxies and stars that may have already disappeared. A look into the past.
The exoplanet Wasp-96b
James Webb has taken the most accurate picture to date of the composition of a planet’s atmosphere with Wasp-96b , finding signatures of water in the form of clouds and haze on this gas giant planet.
The star is 1,150 light-years away, in the constellation of the Phoenix, and is one of more than 5,000 confirmed exoplanets in our Milky Way.
The Southern Ring Nebula
The death of a star has been captured by James Webb about 2,500 light-years away.
“Some stars save the best for last,” says NASA . “The dimmer star at the center of this scene has been sending out rings of gas and dust for thousands of years in all directions, and NASA ‘s James Webb Telescope has revealed for the first time that this star is covered in dust.”
The nebula is also cataloged as NGC 3132.
Stephan’s quintet
A group of galaxies, smaller than a cluster, was seen 290 million light-years away in Webb’s largest image to date.
“Bright clusters of millions of young stars and starburst regions of fresh star birth adorn the image. Sweeping tails of gas, dust, and stars are being pulled out of several of the galaxies due to gravitational interactions. More dramatically, Webb captures huge shock waves as one of the galaxies, NGC 7318B, passes through the cluster .
The James Webb Telescope and the Carina Nebula
“Behind the curtain of dust and gas in these “cosmic cliffs” there are previously hidden baby stars, now discovered by Webb,” says NASA to refer to the birth of stars behind this star, more than 7600 light years away.
This image reveals previously invisible star birth areas for the first time.
James Webb is the world’s premier space science observatory, and once fully operational it will help solve mysteries of our solar system , look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and explore the mysterious structures and origins of our own. universe and our place in it.