Space News & Blog Articles

The international NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has delivered the deepest, sharpest infrared image of the distant Universe so far.

U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled the image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, known as Webb’s First Deep Field, during a White House event on Monday 11 July.

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This side-by-side comparison shows observations of the Southern Ring Nebula in near-infrared light, at left, and mid-infrared light, at right, from NASA’s Webb Telescope. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

The James Webb Space Telescope’s multi-wavelength observations of the Southern Ring Nebula reveal the dying throes of a star flinging off vast amounts of stellar debris, and showed for the first time the star responsible for the spectacle is sheathed in its own cloak of dust.

These side by side views of the Southern Ring Nebula were captured in different wavelengths by the James Webb Space Telescope’s U.S.-built Near Infrared Camera (left) and European Mid-Infrared Instrument (right). The planetary nebula is located 2,500 light-years from Earth.

There are two stars in the middle of the ball of gas and dust. The brighter of the two is an earlier stage of stellar evolution, and the dimmer object is a white dwarf star that has been expelling ionized gas and dust for thousands of years.

The Southern Ring Nebula is a type of object called a planetary nebula. Cataloged as NGC 3132, the Southern Ring Nebula lies in the constellation Vela in the southern sky. See a full-resolution (21.3 MB) view from NIRCam of the Southern Ring Nebula.

Webb’s science instruments, with imaging and spectroscopic measurement capabilities, will allow astronomers to measure the chemical make-up of feature across the sky. The $10 billion mission — the largest telescope ever put into space — is led by NASA, with contributions from the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

The James Webb Space Telescope released its first science images today. Here's what these images show us.

The post What We See in the First Science Images from the James Webb Space Telescope appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Scientists have found the Martian birthplace of a 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite, potentially shedding light on the origins of Mars and other rocky worlds.

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Europe's new Vega C rocket will make its debut Wednesday morning (July 13), and you can watch the action live.

The long-awaited James Webb Space Telescope's views of the cosmos have finally been released, mesmerizing experts, space nerds and members of the public alike.

Stephen’s Quintet viewed by the James Webb Space Telescope. The leftmost galaxy, named NGC 7320, is located 40 million light-years from Earth. The other four galaxies (NGC 7317, NGC 7318A, NGC 7318B, and NGC 7319) are closer together and are located about 290 million light-years away. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

The five galaxies of Stephan’s Quintet, prominently featured at the beginning of the holiday film “It’s a Wonderful Life,” were seen with new eyes by the James Webb Space Telescope.

Located in the northern constellation Pegasus, Stephan’s Quintet consists of four galaxies that are tightly bound — cosmically speaking — about 290 million light-years away. In a coincidence of cosmic alignment, a foreground galaxy lurks on the left of the image about 40 million light-years from Earth.

See the full-resolution view of Stephan’s Quintet.

“With its powerful, infrared vision and extremely high spatial resolution, Webb shows never-before-seen details in this galaxy group,” NASA said in a press release. “Sparkling clusters of millions of young stars and starburst regions of fresh star birth grace the image.

“Sweeping tails of gas, dust and stars are being pulled from several of the galaxies due to gravitational interactions,” NAS A said. “Most dramatically, Webb captures huge shock waves as one of the galaxies, NGC 7318B, smashes through the cluster.”

Rocket Lab will launch a U.S. spy satellite to orbit early Wednesday morning (July 13), and you can watch the action live.

Carina Nebula viewed by the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

The James Webb Space Telescope’s first image of Carina Nebula shows an iconic star-forming cloud of gas and dust 7,600 light-years away, revealing previously unseen vistas of young stars thanks to the new observatory’s sharp-eyed infrared vision.

This is one of the first batch of images from Webb revealed Tuesday by the science team working on the $10 billion mission.

“The stunning vista of the cosmic cliffs of the Carina Nebula reveals new details about this vast stellar nursery,” said Amber Straughn, Webb’s deputy project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “Today, for the first time, we’re seeing brand new stars that were previously completely hidden from our view.”

The tallest of the “mountains” of gas and dust visible in this image are 7 light-years high, according to NASA. The star-forming region of Carina Nebula imaged by Webb is known as NGC 3324.

“When I see an image like this, I can’t help but think of scale,” Straughn said. “Every dot of light we see here is an individual star not unlike our sun, and many of these likely also have planets. It just reminds me that our sun and our planets, and ultimately us, were formed out of the same kind of stuff that we see here.”

NASA revealed the first science-quality images from the James Webb Space Telescope on July 12, 2022, marking the beginning of the observatory's tenure.

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The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope reveals emerging stellar nurseries and individual stars in Carina Nebula that were previously obscured.

The new images showcase how Webb’s cameras can peer through cosmic dust, shedding new light on how stars form. Objects in earliest, rapid phases of star formation difficult to capture, but Webb’s extreme sensitivity, spatial resolution, and imaging capability can chronicle these elusive events.