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See the Universe in a New Way with the Webb Space Telescope's First Images

Are you ready to see unprecedented, detailed views of the universe from the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful space observatory ever made? Scroll down to see the first full-color images and data from Webb. Unfold the universe with us. ✨

Carina Nebula

See The Universe In A New Way With The Webb Space Telescope's First Images

This landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars, called the Cosmic Cliffs, is the edge of the star-birthing Carina Nebula. Usually, the early phases of star formation are difficult to capture, but Webb can peer through cosmic dust—thanks to its extreme sensitivity, spatial resolution, and imaging capability. Protostellar jets clearly shoot out from some of these young stars in this new image.

Southern Ring Nebula

The Southern Ring Nebula is a planetary nebula: it’s an expanding cloud of gas and dust surrounding a dying star. In this new image, the nebula’s second, dimmer star is brought into full view, as well as the gas and dust it’s throwing out around it. (The brighter star is in its own stage of stellar evolution and will probably eject its own planetary nebula in the future.) These kinds of details will help us better understand how stars evolve and transform their environments. Finally, you might notice points of light in the background. Those aren’t stars—they’re distant galaxies.

Stephan’s Quintet

Stephan’s Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies near each other, was discovered in 1877 and is best known for being prominently featured in the holiday classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” This new image brings the galaxy group from the silver screen to your screen in an enormous mosaic that is Webb’s largest image to date. The mosaic covers about one-fifth of the Moon’s diameter; it contains over 150 million pixels and is constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files. Never-before-seen details are on display: sparkling clusters of millions of young stars, fresh star births, sweeping tails of gas, dust and stars, and huge shock waves paint a dramatic picture of galactic interactions.

WASP-96 b

WASP-96 b is a giant, mostly gas planet outside our solar system, discovered in 2014. Webb’s Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) measured light from the WASP-96 system as the planet moved across the star. The light curve confirmed previous observations, but the transmission spectrum revealed new properties of the planet: an unambiguous signature of water, indications of haze, and evidence of clouds in the atmosphere. This discovery marks a giant leap forward in the quest to find potentially habitable planets beyond Earth.

Webb's First Deep Field

This image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, known as Webb’s First Deep Field, looks 4.6 billion years into the past. Looking at infrared wavelengths beyond Hubble’s deepest fields, Webb’s sharp near-infrared view reveals thousands of galaxies—including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared—in the most detailed view of the early universe to date. We can now see tiny, faint structures we’ve never seen before, like star clusters and diffuse features and soon, we’ll begin to learn more about the galaxies’ masses, ages, histories, and compositions.

These images and data are just the beginning of what the observatory will find. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space—and for milestones like this!

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

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2 years ago

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4 years ago

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Travel to Exotic Destinations in our Galaxy!

The planets beyond our solar system – exoplanets – are so far away, often trillions of miles, that we don’t have the technology to truly see them. Even the best photos show the planets as little more than bright dots. We’ve confirmed more than 5,000 exoplanets, but we think there are billions. Space telescopes like Hubble aren’t able to take photos of these far-off worlds, but by studying them in different wavelengths of light (colors), we’ve learned enough about conditions on these planets that we can illustrate them.

A travel poster for the exoplanet 55 Cancri e. This bright, colorful poster is done in pinks, purples and orange hues. Two people are seen floating in a giant bubble behind a craft zooming across an ocean of hot lava. The purplish sky is filled with thick clouds of darker purples and grays with sparkles shining throughout. A planet appears in the sky like a crescent moon. The poster says, ‘’Lava life: Skies sparkle above a neverending ocean of lava.’’

We know, thanks to the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope, that there is a thick atmosphere on a planet called 55 Cancri e about 40 light-years away. And Hubble found silicate vapor in the atmosphere of this rocky world. We also know it’s scorching-close to its Sun-like star, so … lava. Lots and lots of lava. This planet is just one of the many that the James Webb Space Telescope will soon study, telling us even more about the lava world!

You can take a guided tour of this planet (and others) and see 360-degree simulations at our new Exoplanet Travel Bureau.

Travel to the most exotic destinations in our galaxy, including:

Kepler-16b, a planet with two suns.

A vintage looking travel poster shows a human figure from behind, standing beneath two big and bright suns. The smaller one of the pair is bright orange and the larger one is yellowish white. The person is casting two shadows because of the two stars. The person is looking toward rock formations that look like those found in the Southwest US. The poster is done in red, orange and white colors and says, ‘’Relax on Kepler-16b, where your shadow always has company.’’

Then there’s PSO J318.5-22, a world with no sun that wanders the galaxy alone. The nightlife would never end on a planet without a star.

A travel poster for the exoplanet PSO J318.5-22 shows a man and a woman in the foreground in futuristic party clothes and elegant space helmets. Behind them is a giant planet with advanced looking technology and hardware on spaceships floating nearby. A group of partygoers are behind the man and the woman and all are standing on an outside deck like the ones seen surrounding the background spaceships. All of the partygoers are in fancy dresses, tuxedos and slim space helmets. The text on the poster says, ‘’Visit the planet with no star. PSO PSO J318.5-22, where the nightlife never ends.’’

TRAPPIST-1e, which will also be studied by the Webb Space Telescope, is one of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a star about 40 light-years from Earth. It’s close enough that, if you were standing on this exoplanet, you could see our Sun as a star in the Leo constellation! You can also see it on the poster below: look for a yellow star to the right of the top person’s eye.

A travel poster for the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1e. A woman and children are gathered around a train window looking out excitedly. Through the window you can see six large exoplanets in the sky like giant moons. The inside of the train car is dark to better show the view outside, where everything is bathed in the red light from its red dwarf star. The sky is also filled with stars including the three-star line of Orion and the Leo constellation, which contains our yellow sun as a star. The poster says, ‘’Planet hop to TRAPPIST-1e, voted number1 habitable zone vacation spot.’’

We haven’t found life beyond Earth (yet) but we’re looking. Meanwhile, we can imagine the possibility of red grass and other plants on Kepler-186f, a planet orbiting a red dwarf star.

A travel poster for the exoplanet Kepler-186f shows two humans standing amid abundant plant life. There are trees and grasses, most of them colored red. There is also grass colored green. The two people stand in front of a white picket fence that cuts across the poster that says, ‘’Kepler-186f, where the grass is always redder on the other side.’’

We can also imagine what it might be like to skydive on a super-Earth about seven times more massive than our home planet. You would fall about 35% faster on a super-Earth like HD 40307g, making for a thrilling ride!

A travel poster for the exoplanet HD 40307g shows a skydiver high above a blue planet. It says, ‘’Experience the gravity of a super earth.’’ The poster is done in greens, blues and yellows. The blue sky is peeking out behind jagged gradients of yellow. The skydiver is wearing a futuristic suit with a parachute on their back. There are gradients of yellow colors surrounding the giant planet with streaks of light streaming toward the planet.

Any traveler is going to want to pick up souvenirs, and we have you covered. You can find free downloads of all the posters here and others! What are you waiting for? Come explore with us!