James Webb is a space telescope with a special mission. NASA has revealed the first color image of galaxies, hitherto invisible to Earth’s lenses, which will have formed shortly after the great explosionat least 13.5 billion years ago.
The most powerful space telescope was developed by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. It is intended to be a space observatory to capture infrared radiation, and has been in space for six months.
In addition to taking pictures of the first stars to shine in the deepest universe, James Webb aims to explore distant planets to see if they are habitable.
When it reached the James Webb lens, the light formed from the first stars after the great explosion It has already traveled a billion years. Therefore, the images that the telescope takes now refer to the past.
In the image that has been analyzed and is now known, “a group of galaxies is seen in the southern hemisphere constellation Volan, known as SMACS 0723”.
NASA
According to the scientists, this “mass itself is not very far – Just It is about 4.6 billion light-years away. “The massive mass of this cluster multiplied the light of very distant objects and increased their size.
Thanks to a golden mirror with a width of 6.5 meters and ultra-sensitive infrared instruments, James Webb was able to discover an image of galaxies that existed 600 million years ago.
Although the image depicts a distorted shape represented by red arcs, scientists say that due to the quality of the data produced, the super telescope detects the space behind the last visible object in the image. ‘We’re about to start pretty much everything’
This possibility indicates that this is the deepest cosmic field of view obtained so far.
“Light travels at 300,000 kilometers per second,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “And this light that you see in one of those little spots has been traveling for more than 13 billion years.”
It is “the deepest and clearest infrared image of the universe ever taken.”notes the US space agency.
He adds: “This is just the first image. More information is coming in about 13.5 billion years. And since we know the universe is 13.8 billion years old, we’re almost going to the beginning of everything.”
James Webb’s second project, Amber Straughn, highlighted in an interview with the BBC, “The data is incredible in itself as well as the images. But the detailed scientific interpretation that we will be able to do with the information is what makes me more alive.”
Studying extrasolar planets is one of the telescope’s goals and that’s why Webb has already analyzed the atmosphere of WASP-96 b, a giant planet located more than a thousand light-years from Earth.
This investigation will provide clues about the chemistry of the atmosphere of WASP-96 b, which orbits near its parent star.
“These photos will remind the world that the United States can do great things and remind the American people – especially our children – that there is nothing beyond our power,” he said.
NASA
It cost James Webb $10 billion and will be Hubble’s successor. It took this telescope to check the sky for weeks to get close results. a James Webb identified objects deep in the universe after only 12.5 hours of observations.
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