It's not often that the sequel is as good as the original, but the second image release from the James Webb Space Telescope certainly lived up to expectations set by the jaw-dropping deep field reveal that took place on Monday evening. In fact, it surpassed it by leaps and bounds.
The unveiling of that first image by President Joe Biden wasn't exactly impressive, but the image itself? Magnificent. Known as "Webb's First Deep Field," it gives astronomers a look at galaxy cluster SMACS 0723.
The image itself is a minuscule patch of the Southern Hemisphere sky -- equivalent to a grain of sand held up to the heavens -- yet replete with thousands of galaxies, from spirals and ellipticals to simple pinpricks of light only a few pixels wide.
And thanks to a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing, it provides us with the deepest -- and oldest -- view of the cosmos yet. That's a lot to live up to, right?
Well, the images released Tuesday don't reach quite so far back in space and time. But they are undoubtedly profound and equal to the First Deep Field in beauty and delicately woven with exquisite detail.
There are three major images in the JWST's first full-color set. Two focus on nebulas, huge clouds of dust and gas within which stars are born, and the other analyzes a region known as Stephan's Quintet, a frightening corner of the cosmos where five galaxies are locked in an ultimately fatal dance.
Then there's the spectral data of WASP-96b -- a really hot, gas giant exoplanet -- which reveals the composition of its atmosphere in unprecedented detail. This one isn't an image like you'd expect, but arguably something even more valuable.
Spectral data helps us understand not what a space-borne object aesthetically looks like but rather what it'd be like to stand on it. And, as they say, the book is often better than the film.
Let's break down each one and explain why the JWST's second batch of cosmic goodies is just as groundbreaking as its first peek.
In short, nebulas are immense clouds of dust and gas that exist at either end of a star's life. Some are home to fledgling baby stars, while others are created by their explosive deaths.
But in both cases, nebulas are responsible for some of the most stunning visuals of our cosmos -- and through the JWST's lens, the most powerful infrared imager we've ever had, their marvel is only enhanced.
You can read exactly how the JWST's infrared imaging works here, but the basic principle is it can access light -- emanating across the cosmos from stars, galaxies and other luminescent objects -- that's stuck in a region of the electromagnetic spectrum invisible to our eyes.
And more specifically to nebulas, that "hidden" light, so to speak, happens to be the main kind shooting through their dust clouds.
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That means our pupils, and even massive telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope, can't penetrate nebular curtains of gaseousness. They're veils that typically obscure our view of the flashy features inside them -- namely, stars just bursting to life or those in the process of dying.
The JWST's instruments, however, easily get past them via infrared imaging to check out what's going on inside. Plus, they offer a much better resolution than a telescope such as Hubble -- in effect, catching the internal nebula show as well as external structure with sophisticated clarity.
Now that we know what we're about to look at, let's get into it.
For its first nebula science discoveries, the JWST focused on two separate stardust clouds: The Carina Nebula, located about 8,500 light-years from Earth, and the Eight Burst Nebula, which is much closer at around 2,000 light-years away.
Starting off strong, behold the Eight Burst Nebula. It's also known as the Southern Ring Nebula.
"This is a planetary nebula," NASA astronomer Karl Gordon said. "It's caused by a dying star that spilled a large fraction of its mass over in successive waves." And in fact, these shockwaves can be clearly seen in the image.
On the left, you'll see a version of the nebular image taken by the JWST's Near-Infrared Camera, or Nircam. This is often considered the telescope's holy grail imager because it leads the charge in finding pieces of the invisible universe.
In this case, Nircam helps illustrate the layers of light that connect to make up this complex system. Like a mixed-media painting, it offers a good deal of texture to showcase different facets of the Southern Ring.
And on the right is a version of the image that's specifically drawn by the JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI. Thanks to MIRI, we also get something like an Easter egg in this photo.
Right in the center of the cosmic eye, there are clearly two stars present -- not just the dying one, which is the one that looks redder on the left. The brighter, second star had been theorized to exist in the past... but hadn't ever been seen before. This is the first time we've laid eyes on it.
According to NASA, it will probably eject its own planetary nebula in the future -- but until then, that star will continue to influence the nebula's appearance, giving us the vivid spectacle we see today. "As the pair continues to orbit one another," NASA says, "they 'stir the pot' of gas and dust, causing asymmetrical patterns."
Also, on that right-hand image, if you glance toward the top left, you'll see a mysterious blueish line that appears to have been flung out from the nebula. This little line has its own grand story.
"I made a bet that said 'It's part of the nebula,'" Gordon said. "I lost the bet because then we looked more carefully at both Nircam and MIRI images, and it's very clearly an edge-on galaxy." Yep, there's an entire faraway galaxy lurking in this picture. The JWST has some tricks up its sleeve.
"Honestly, it took me a while to figure out what to call out in this image," NASA astrophysicist Amber Straughn said. "There's just so much going on here. It's so beautiful."
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This astonishing image is technically the edge of a giant cavity within a nebula called NGC 3324, known as the Carina Nebula. Within, you can see an incredible wealth of emerging stellar nurseries and individual stars that call this nebula home.
Until now, all those cosmic sparkles were completely obscured from our view due to the thick dust and gas surrounding them -- but, remember, the JWST infrared cameras can literally pierce that veil and access valuable sights within.
Decoding this image could very well shed light on how stars are formed, what kind of star-making material goes into that formation and even dissect the mechanism of violent, starry winds that affect surrounding space.
And if you're curious about all those hills, valleys, and spikes? So are NASA scientists. As of now, they're kind of puzzles yet to be solved. As Straughn puts it, "we see examples of structures that, honestly, we don't even know what they are."
Something we do know, though, is the JWST also just gave us a groundbreaking view of an alien world. An exoplanet.
Last but absolutely not least for NASA's Tuesday JWST image release is the breathtaking glimpse we got of Stephan's Quintet.
This dramatic grouping of five individual galaxies was discovered in the 19th century, long before the first space telescopes -- well, even the first satellites -- made it to orbit. It's a bright region of space, made up of five galaxies and home to a huge shockwave, courtesy of two galaxies colliding at extreme speed.
Of today's image releases, the Quintet is the farthest from Earth, with the galaxies located between 39 and 340 million light-years from our planet (one of the galaxies, NGC 7320, is much closer than the other four). We've been observing it from Earth for almost 150 years, and Hubble has also captured striking images of the grouping. But we've never seen it like this.
In this gigantic scene, the JWST revealed the Quintet with so much detail that we can literally see individual stars speckling the galaxies. The one on the left, in particular, is a starry spectacle fit for a fairytale universe.
But perhaps the most incredible aspect of this photo has to do with the top-most galaxy that appears violent, yet awfully serene. The JWST confirmed that it has an active galactic nucleus -- that is, a supermassive black hole 24 million times the mass of the sun sitting at its center. This void is simultaneously pulling in material and spitting out light energy equivalent to the burn of 40 billion suns. Source: CNET
