The Greatest Images From the James Webb Telescope in 2023 (So far)

Right now, The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is considered the largest and most powerful telescope ever sent into space.. The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the space observatory at a launch site in French Guiana with the Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket on December 25, 2021.

As NASA explains, the telescope focuses its efforts on four main areas in the universe: first light in the universe, the merging of galaxies in the early universe, the birth of stars and protoplanetary systems, and the birth of planets (including the origins of life). ).

The telescope is as tall as a three-story building and as tall as a tennis court; No wonder scientists photograph incredibly detailed images of our universe, such as the first galaxies. For this reason, TecMundo has some The best images from JWST in 2023 – at least for now. Check out!

8 Stunning Images from the James Webb Telescope in 2023

Star cluster NGC 346

On January 11, 2023, James Webb released an image of NGC 346, a star forming region located in the dwarf galaxy known as the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) about seven thousand light-years away.

“[O aglomerado de estrelas] Shown in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), NGC 346 is a dynamic star cluster located within a nebula 200,000 light-years away.

Icy Cloud Chameleon I

On January 23, JWST revealed the Chameleon I cloud, a region about 630 light-years away known to have the deepest and coldest ice in space; the temperature is -263ºC. Cloud data point to the presence of frozen molecules of sulfur, ammonia, methane, methanol, among other chemical elements.

“Our identification of complex organic molecules such as methanol and potentially ethanol also indicates that many star and planetary systems that develop in this particular cloud will inherit the molecules in a highly developed chemical state,” said the astronomer from the Leiden Observatory (Netherlands). ), Will Rocha.

Galaxy NGC 7496

On February 16, the telescope released images of different galaxies captured during a study of the formation of stars, gas and dust in galaxies. The reproduction below shows the barred spiral galaxy known as NGC 7496, located about 24 million light-years away.

“Thanks to the telescope’s resolution, we are able for the first time to perform a complete count of star formation and inventory the structures of interstellar midbubbles in nearby galaxies beyond the Local Group,” said lead research scientist Janice Lee.

big star WR 124

On March 14, NASA released an impressive photo of one of the largest and brightest stars detectable by available equipment. The image shows the star WR 124 in the constellation Sagitta, about 15,000 light-years away – a rare stellar object from a class known as Wolf-Rayet stars.

“Webb’s detailed image of WR 124 preserves forever a brief, turbulent period of transformation and promises future explorations that will reveal long-hidden mysteries of cosmic dust,” NASA said in an official publication.

planet uranus

On April 6, a new image of our solar system’s ice giant planet Uranus, located about 2.8 billion kilometers away, emerged. In addition to the light blue color, Uranus has 13 rings, and 11 of them can be seen in the following reproduction – from the total, nine of these rings are considered main, the other two are weaker.

“This planet qualifies as an ice giant because of the chemical composition within it. Most of its mass is believed to be a hot, dense fluid of ‘ice’ material (water, methane and ammonia) above a small rocky core.

Cas A supernova remnant

On April 7, JWST captured another incredible image showing supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) via its mid-infrared equipment. The relic is located about 11,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia.

“Cas A represents our best opportunity to do some kind of stellar autopsy to look at the debris field of an exploded star and understand what kind of star was there before and how that star exploded,” said Danny Milisavljevic, chief inspector of the Webb program.

Galaxy NGC 5068

On June 2, NASA released a portrait of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5068, captured by two sensors in the telescope. The galaxy is located about 20 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. According to scientists, the observation of NGC 5068 could be a turning point for star formation studies.

“The sharp vision of Webb’s two instruments – MIRI (Intermediate Infrared Instrument) and NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera) – at infrared wavelengths allowed astronomers to see behind massive dust clouds in NGC 5068 and capture star formation processes as they happened.” explains NASA in an official statement.

Orion Nebula

In a mission led by an international team of scientists, the James Webb telescope has for the first time collected data on a new carbon compound known as the methyl cation (CH3+). The above image shows a region known as the Orion Bar (Portuguese “Orion Bar”) located in the Orion Nebula about 1,350 light-years from Earth.

“This finding not only confirms Webb’s incredible sensitivity, but also confirms the presumed central importance of CH3+ in interstellar chemistry,” said Marie-Aline Martin-Drumel of Paris-Saclay University in France, a member of the science team.

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