New Images of the Universe: NASA’s Recently Released Images and What They Show
July 19th, 2022 by admin
On 13th July 2022, NASA released five pictures captured by the powerful James Webb Space Telescope. These images range from the birth of stars to the deepest look of the universe we have ever seen in our lifetimes. Each of these pictures have been released with a unique name and show different attributes of our vast universe.
This article will go through what these five pictures represent. First of all, let's discuss some basics.
What is the James Webb Space Telescope?
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the largest optical space telescope. It has been designed to conduct infrared astronomy to find the first galaxies created in the early universe and analyze the dusty clouds and stars forming different planetary systems in the universe.
JWST is much better and more efficient than the other space telescopes because of its enhanced infrared resolution and greater sensitivity to the objects located in deep space. These five pictures released by NASA prove the high performance and efficiency of the Webb Space Telescope.
NASA has given these photos five distinct names and in depth descriptions of what they are.
Image # 01 – SMACS 0723
The Webb Telescope is capable of looking 13.6 billion light years away. This is the farthest we have ever been able to see into space. SMACS 0723 is the galactic cluster containing thousands of galaxies. The bluer galaxies are more mature, while the redder galaxies have more of the dust stars are formed from.
Image 02 – Carina Nebula
Stars, like anything else, are born and die. This is the Carina Nebula's image. The Carina Nebula is a nebula 7600 light-years from Earth. This photo shows how stars give out large amounts of energy during their formation, creating the shape of the nebula. The Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the Carina Nebula before, but we have never seen this kind of detailed picture.
Image # 03 – Southern Ring Nebula
This is the picture of a dying star, showing how endings can be beautiful too. Webb Space Telescope captured this image of old stars about 2500 light years away from Earth. It shows the stars entering the final stage of their lives and giving out gas and dust that form the clouds surrounding them.
One of the amazing things about this image is that the Webb Telescope has captured the Southern Ring Nebula and thoroughly analyzed its chemistry to understand how the stars die and give off their matter.
Image # 04 – Stephan’s Quintet
Astronomers first observed Stephan's Quintet in 1877. Stephen's Quintet is a cluster of five galaxies, and Webb Telescope has captured its clearest and greatest image yet. It is located 290 million light years away from Earth. Bright sparkles in the picture are thousands of distant galaxies.
Image # 05 – WASP 96 b
The Webb Telescope can analyze starlight streaming and find chemical fingerprints to help us understand the composition of the early galaxies in the universe. This technical graph is undoubtedly not as beautiful as the pictures of the galaxies. However, this graph is highly useful in studying the specific attributes of galaxies, stars, and expo planet.
Unprecedented Insight
The bottom line is Webb Space Telescope has provided unprecedented insight into (and beautiful images of) the universe. These initial images from NASA show the massive payoff for investment in space technology. The Webb Telescope has shown how it is beneficial in the exploration and understanding of the universe better through its ability to analyzing the universe’s vastness and the composition of the stars, galaxies, and dust clouds.
Posted in: Technology