The James Webb Space Telescope is gazing across the universe to find galaxies close to the “cosmic dawn”—and you can explore them from the palm of your hand
That poetic phrase is what astronomers call the time just a few hundred million years after the big bang when the very first stars switched on, flooding the cosmos with light.
This is precisely why astronomers built the James Webb Space Telescope . With its huge 6.5-meter segmented mirror and multiple infrared-attuned instruments, it can see galaxies as they were not too long after the first stars were born and possibly maybe even all the way back to the cosmic dawn. A scattering of stars in our own galaxy can be distinguished here and there in the JADES field. Each of them stands out from objects far more distant via its very sharp, pointlike appearance, as well as the presence of diffraction spikes—three pairs of lines that radiate away from a star’s center and are caused by the bending of light around the hexagonal one-meter mirror segments that make up JWST’s primary mirror.
Many of the astronomical objects in this mosaic can be identified by their color, that is, how bright they appear at different wavelengths. The Near-Infrared Camera, JWST’s workhorse instrument, has filters that select for different wavelengths, several of which are used by JADES. You can switch the display between filters by clicking the top “layers” icon in the upper right corner of the mosaic’s webpage to see how appearances change when you change what flavor of light is observed.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Kamala Harris goes global as she seeks to bolster her image before 2024Naomi Lim is a White House reporter at the Washington Examiner. She previously reported on crime and politics for News Corp Australia. She returned to Washington in 2015 after interning in Washington, D.C., as an undergraduate. She worked at CNN and the BBC while earning a master's degree in public policy from Georgetown University.
Read more »
Godzilla Minus One's New Image Offers Closer Look At New Design Of Mighty MonsterA new Godzilla Minus One image offers a closer look at the updated design for the mighty Kaiju in the upcoming film from Toho Studios.
Read more »
Scarlett Johansson Takes Legal Action Against AI App That Used Her ImageScarlett Johansson takes legal action against an artificial intelligence (AI) app that used her likeness and name in an ad without consent.
Read more »
Image: High-power thruster qualification testing for GatewayThe blue hue of the Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) is seen inside a vacuum chamber at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland during recent thruster qualification testing.
Read more »
Image: Nighttime on the East CoastWhile aboard the International Space Station on Oct. 26, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli captured the city lights of the northeastern United States and major urban areas including Long Island, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Washington, D.C.
Read more »
Jupiter Looks Bizarre in Hubble's New Ultraviolet ImageSpace and astronomy news
Read more »