NASA on July 12 unveiled a new set of the early universe’s clearest images to date from its new powerful James Webb space telescope.
- The new observatory is a joint project of the US, European and Canadian space agencies – with Nasa in the lead.
The first images
- The first image from the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is the farthest humanity has ever seen in both time and distance, closer to the dawn of time and the edge of the universe.
- SMACS 0723: It is a huge cluster of galaxies. It’s known to astronomers as a “gravitational lens” because the mass of the cluster bends and magnifies the light of objects that are much further away.
- Carina Nebula: The Carina Nebula is one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky, located roughly 7,600 light-years from Earth. Nebulae are stellar nurseries. They are a massive clouds of gas and dust in which new stars are forming.
- The Southern Ring: The Southern Ring, or “Eight-Burst” nebula, is a giant expanding sphere of gas and dust that’s been lit up by a dying star in the centre. As stars age, they change the way they make energy and eject their outer layers. And then, when the star gets very hot again, it energises all that material it had previously spurned.
- Stephan’s Quintet: Stephan’s Quintet, about 290 million light-years away, is located in the constellation Pegasus. It’s notable for being the first compact galaxy group ever discovered. Four of the five galaxies within the quintet are locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters.
About James Webb space telescope
- James Webb space telescope is the world’s biggest and most powerful space telescope rocketed away in December 2021 from French Guiana in South America.
- It reached its lookout point 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth in January 2022.
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