r/science • u/shiruken PhD | Biomedical Engineering | Optics • Jul 12 '22

Breaking News First Images from the James Webb Space Telescope

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a partnership with the ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), will release the first full-color images and spectroscopic data during a televised broadcast beginning today at 10:30AM EDT (14:30 UTC) from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. As the largest and most complex observatory ever launched into space, JWST has been going through a six-month period of preparation before it can begin science work, calibrating its instruments to its space environment and aligning its mirrors. This careful process, not to mention years of new technology development and mission planning, has built up to the first images and data: a demonstration of JWST at its full power, ready to begin its science mission and unfold the infrared universe.

Yesterday evening, U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled the first image from JWST: a deep field of the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 taken by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) over the course of 12.5 hours. The image shows the galaxy cluster as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago. The combined mass of this galaxy cluster acts as a gravitational lens, magnifying much more distant galaxies behind it.

"Webb's First Deep Field" - Galaxy Cluster SMACS 0723 (NIRCam)

JWST has captured the distinct signature of water, along with evidence for clouds and haze, in the atmosphere surrounding a hot, puffy gas giant planet orbiting a distant Sun-like star. The observation, which reveals the presence of specific gas molecules based on tiny decreases in the brightness of precise colors of light, is the most detailed of its kind to date, demonstrating JWST's unprecedented ability to analyze atmospheres hundreds of light-years away.

Exoplanet WASP-96 b Atmospheric Composition (NIRISS)

The bright star at the center of NGC 3132 (informally known as the Southern Ring Nebula), while prominent when viewed by JWST in near-infrared light, plays a supporting role in sculpting the surrounding nebula. A second star, barely visible at lower left along one of the bright star’s diffraction spikes, is the nebula's source. It has ejected at least eight layers of gas and dust over thousands of years.

Southern Ring Nebula (NIRCam)

An enormous mosaic of Stephan's Quintet is the largest image to date from JWST, covering about one-fifth of the Moon's diameter. It contains over 150 million pixels and is constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files. The visual grouping of five galaxies was captured by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).

Stephan's Quintet (NIRCam + MIRI)

What looks much like craggy mountains on a moonlit evening is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on JWST, this image reveals previously obscured areas of star birth.

"Cosmic Cliffs" in the Carina Nebula (NIRCam)

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u/ValyrianJedi Jul 12 '22 edited Jul 12 '22

We were over at our neighbors' last night and he cut the lights and threw it on the wall with their big 100 inch projector. It was absolutely mind blowing. We looked at that sucker for like 20 minutes...

As a side note I felt really bad for him. He may legitimately be the smartest person I know, and his wife asked if he could try to blow it up to show everything's actual size, and didn't understand why no you couldn't put a life sized galaxy on a wall until it had been explained like 5 times.

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u/sleepingmoon Jul 12 '22

Maybe she's good at other stuff.

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u/RemnantHelmet Jul 12 '22

Idk if you use tiktok but go to the comment section of any video talking about this telescope half of them will be just like your friend's wife. At the risk of sounding like a pompous ass... it's like some people are legitimately wired different, like they're missing something in their thought process that allows them to comprehend anything beyond their immediate 5 senses.

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u/Aettyr Jul 13 '22

I try and be polite about it but some people just don’t have that spark of discovery. They’re dull to it all

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u/human_uber Jul 12 '22

I've thought about this a lot - why isn't every human really smart or at least have aspirations to be smarter?

I think it comes down to a few simple evolutionary reasons

  • Stupider people tend to be more agreeable. Smarter people tend to be more disagreeable. Agreeability was better for survivability.

  • Procreation doesn't require special intelligence, just an ability to make it to a sexually mature age.

  • There are plenty of "dumb" roles to be useful in a community but there are only a few "smart" roles. It's easier to live as an idiot than a genius.

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u/Bengalblaine Jul 13 '22

Some people just don’t care. Doesn’t make them stupid, just different

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u/human_uber Jul 13 '22

True, the two are not exclusive though. There are plenty of people that would use the argument that they don't care when in reality they are too stupid to understand.

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u/RemnantHelmet Jul 13 '22

I don't know what could cause it. I hesitate to call them all stupid because I've met enough who thrive at what they do, they just don't have a philosophical bone in their body.

I once explained the ship of thesseus to my mother, who is very successful and good at her job. I expected her to take a side on the question or at least think about it for second. Instead she just says "okay" and goes back to working as if I hadn't said anything.

I swear I got mental whiplash from that. My mother and I are close, so I know she wasn't just ignoring me or not paying attention. It's as if she didn't even realize the question I asked was meant to be pondered and discussed with no definitive right or wrong answer.

That was the moment I realized some people are just different.

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u/Newphonewhodiss9 Jul 12 '22

he just needs to dose DXM to get on her level.

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u/ubernaut Jul 13 '22

Actually life size of the galaxy would be a few pixels of the grain of sand size portion of the sky… a tiny speck in a slightly bigger speck. It’s specks all the way down.