Source: NASA
Our universe is full of mysteries and interesting stories and facts. One is our space, having amazing things such as stars, moons, planets, galaxies, asteroids, and so on. For years, scientists and researchers have been working in this field and making records in the book of astronomy.
Many discoveries have been recorded and some are yet to discover. But recently, on 12 July 2022 NASA revealed the first batch of images that were taken by the James Webb Telescope. These full-color scientific images are the beginning of a new era as the world can see the capabilities of this telescope.
Here are those gorgeous images, you will be amazed to see and can't take your eyes off.
SMACS 0723
Source: NASA
James Webb Telescope's first image, SMACS 0723, is a cluster of galaxies about 4.3 billion light-years away. Many other telescopes and Hubble have also observed this patch of sky that is visible from the Southern Hemisphere on Earth.
But this telescope has produced the deepest and the sharpest image of the distant universe to date. This is also known as Webb's First Deep Field.
Carina Nebula
Source: NASA
The second image captured by the James Webb Telescope is of a Cosmic cliff. It reveals for the first time, the hidden newborn stars that were previously concealed behind the barrier of dust and gas.
The mountain-like structure you are seeing in the picture is the chemical fingerprint suggesting that they are water vapor, clouds, and haze, which occurred during the birth of a new star due to the ultraviolet radiation.
This star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula is located roughly around 7600 light-years away. Doesn't this picture look like a 3-D image and is also beautiful, right ??
Southern Ring Nebula
Source: NASA
Doesn't this image look like a swimming pool with an orange deck and a bright diamond in the middle?? Yes, right?
Informally, this is known as the Southern Ring Nebula showing an expanding cloud of gas that surrounds a dying star. It is also cataloged as NGC 3132 which is approximately 2500 light-years away from Earth.
Through this picture, astronomers will be able to dig into much specific information about planetary nebulae and researchers will understand which molecules are present and where they lie.
Stephan's Quintet
Source: NASA
In 1877, Stephen's Quintet was first discovered by Édouard Stephan at the Marseille Observatory which it's named after. It was also featured in the holiday classic film titled ' It's a Wonderful Life ’.
It visualized a group of five galaxies about 290 million light-years from Earth that are interacting in a cosmic dance.
As you can also see that this image is so detailed, it shows individual stars in these galaxies, cold dust and gas fuelling star formation, and swirling tails of gas, dust, and stars pulled from several galaxies due to gravitational interaction. Most dramatic was that the telescope also captured the huge shock waves as the galaxy named NGC 7318B smashed through the cluster.
This is said to be Webb's largest image to date, covering about one-fifth of the Moon's diameter.
WASP-96b
Source: NASA
The last picture that NASA broadcasted was WASP-96b. It was first discovered by Wide Angle Search for Planets in 2013.
WASP-96b is a gas giant exoplanet whose mass is 0.48 Jupiter. It orbits around its Sun-like star every 3.5 Earth days at a distance. It is said to be 1120 light-years away from Earth.
The James Webb Telescope has taken the image of WASP-96b's spectrum which confirms the presence of water as well as clouds and hazes within the planet's atmosphere. In prior observations, it didn't exist.
Conclusion
Thanks to the James Webb Telescope, we were able to see these amazing and beautiful images of our space. And we can't deny the efforts of scientists and researchers they put into this process.
With the help of these images, astronomers will now be able to dig into more stuff and will find new information which will unfold the mysteries of our universe.
Written by - Vipasha
Edited by - Kritika Sharma
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