The James Webb Space Telescope celebrates its first year of operation on Wednesday. To celebrate, NASA has released an image of the closest star forming region to Earth. Its proximity, at a distance of 390 light-years, allowed for very detailed close-ups. What is reflected in this incredible image is known as Cloud complex Rho Ophiuchus.
“In just a year, the James Webb Space Telescope has changed the way humanity thinks about space.”This is stated in a statement by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. Nelson noted that last year we saw “the farthest corners of the universe” for the first time thanks to this powerful tool. “It has allowed scientists all over the world to ask questions and answer questions that they could never have dreamed of before.”
The image chosen to celebrate James Webb’s first birthday shows a region containing about 50 young stars. All of them are similar in mass to the Sun or slightly less. The shadows of some of the stars in the image point to protoplanetary disks: potential future planetary systems in the making.
Nelson took the opportunity to thank all of NASA’s international partners. All of them, he says, “share a desire to push the boundaries of what is known to be possible.” And highlighted: “Their efforts will continue to improve our understanding of the origin of the universe and our place in it.”
We also want to join the celebration. So we leave you here an interview we had with Begoña Vila Costas, NASA engineer who was part of James Webb’s team. But in addition, we have a gift: we have compiled a selection of our favorite images taken with this exceptional telescope. It was difficult to choose, but we are sure that you will like them.
1 The Orion Nebula
This image, taken by James Webb’s NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera), shows a portion of the Orion Nebula known as Bar Orion. This is an area where energetic ultraviolet light from the Trapezium Cluster in the upper left corner interacts with dense molecular clouds.
This image shows a young star system known as d203-506, which has a protoplanetary disk. Astronomers used Webb to detect for the first time a carbon molecule known as a methyl cation in this disk. This molecule is important because helps form more complex carbon-based molecules.
2. Alien asteroid belt
This image was posted last May. For the first time in history, thanks to James Webb, we were able to see what the asteroid belt looks like outside our solar system.
A belt of dusty asteroids is located around Formalhaut, a very hot young star that lies about 25 light-years from our Earth. It is so close that it is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. In particular, in the constellation Pisces Austrinus.
3. Spanish dancer
Of course it had to be. NASA released this March a photograph of a supernova explosion in the distant spiral galaxy NGC 1566, better known as the Spanish Dancer. Without a doubt, one of the most impressive images to date.
The galaxy is well known for having one of the most active galactic centers in our cosmic neighborhood. But the new abilities that James Webb possesses exponentially expand the possibilities of learning.
4. First deep field
This mysterious image was published in December last year. James Webb managed to capture the clearest photos in the lowest light in space. They call it “intra-cluster light” and it’s less bright than the darkest 1% of the sky we can see from Earth.
Then NASA explained that here we can find a lot of secrets of dark matter and the evolution of the universe. The origin of “intra-cluster light” goes back to those orphan stars of the galaxy. They float in the center of galaxy clusters without being gravitationally bound to any of them.
5. Space hourglass
The thing is, if NASA didn’t say it, we didn’t believe it. This photograph from the James Webb Telescope was released last year and shows a protostar reflecting a cosmic hourglass.
Officially this dark cloud L1527. Here is a protostar that is barely 100,000 years old. The image was taken with the NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera) instrument of the space telescope.
6. Pillars of Creation
Such a title for such a photo. The Pillars of Creation are one of the the most prolific stellar nurseries of the Milky Way. James Webb revealed his impressive skeleton in December 2022 inside the Eagle Nebula.
This zone is known as a fairly active region of star formation. Thanks to a special telescope, we were able to see some of the crescent-shaped stars under the dust and gas that make up this interesting structure.
Special mention to this from James Webb
It was the cover of a magazine Time, selected as one of the best photos for all of 2022. It was also one of the first shots taken by James Webb. It was presented by US President Joe Biden and NASA scientists in early July last year.
With you is the deepest and clearest infrared image of the distant universe. Capturing a cluster of galaxies SMACS 0723 was to go down in history as Webb’s first deep field. Amazing photo. Happy birthday to the James Webb Telescope and his team!
Source: Hiper Textual
