Space News & Blog Articles

Highly anticipated observations hint at treasure trove of discoveries to come

The dawn of a new era in astronomy has begun as the world gets its first look at the full capabilities of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope’s first full-colour images and spectroscopic data, which uncover a spectacular collection of cosmic features that have remained elusive until now, were released today.

In this enormous new image, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope reveals never-before-seen details of the galaxy group “Stephan’s Quintet”.

Close proximity of the system gives astronomers a ringside seat to galactic mergers and interactions. Webb’s new image also shows in rare detail how interacting galaxies trigger star formation in each other and how gas in galaxies is being disturbed and the outflows driven by a black hole in Stephan’s Quintet in a level of detail never seen before. Tight galaxy groups like this may have been more common in the early Universe when superheated, infalling material may have fueled very energetic black holes.

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has revealed details of the Southern Ring planetary nebula that were previously hidden from astronomers.

Webb’s enormous mirror and precise instruments joined forces to capture the most detailed measurements of starlight filtering through the atmosphere of a planet outside our Solar System to date.

The spectrum of light – which contains information about the makeup of a planetary atmosphere 1,150 light-years away – reveals the distinct signature of water. The strength of the signal that Webb detected hints at the significant role the telescope will play in the search for potentially habitable planets in the coming years. Webb’s powerful new view also shows evidence of haze and clouds that previous studies of this planet did not detect.

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

Webb’s image is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length – and reveals thousands of galaxies in a tiny sliver of vast Universe. This sharp near-infrared view has brought out faint structures in extremely distant galaxies, for an unprecedented look at galaxies billions of years in the past. For the first time, Webb has also detailed chemical makeup of galaxies in very early Universe.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The release of additional images from the James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) Tuesday, followed by a press conference at 12:30 p.m. EDT (1630 GMT). NASA TV will broadcast both events, and you can watch on this page.



Scientists will release additional images and data from the James Webb Space Telescope today, including ultra-sharp infrared views of a star-forming nebula, a colorful cloud of gas around a dying star, a group of distant galaxies, and the first measurement of the composition of a planet around another star.

The imagery set for release Tuesday follows a sneak preview of Webb’s initial treasure trove unveiled by President Biden Monday at the White House.

Webb launched Christmas Day aboard a European Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana.

The Ariane 6 launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana now hosts the first example of ESA’s new heavy-lift rocket. This Ariane 6 combined tests model will be used to validate the entire launch system during its ground phase in readiness for the inaugural launch of Ariane 6. 

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NASA shared a new collection of images of the mile-wide asteroid that passed safely by Earth in May.

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Scientists have measured how fast a supermassive black hole is spinning, and the result might give us a clue about how the giant formed.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover is scouting for landing sites that could be used by spacecraft that will fly the rover's many Martian samples back to Earth.

The red cap on Pluto's moon Charon results when ultraviolet light and the solar wind interact with hydrocarbons and turn them into a soup of organic compounds dubbed tholins.

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