The world is getting its first glimpse of the full capabilities of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which marks the beginning of a new era in astronomy.
The first full-colour images and spectroscopic data from the telescope were released during a televised broadcast on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, at 10:30 a.m. EDT (14:30 UTC).
These images from the telescope were released during a televised broadcast from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
These first images from the largest and most powerful space telescope in the world show Webb at full power, ready to start its mission to explore the infrared universe.
These images are the deepest infrared views of the universe ever seen.
Webb's seemingly 3D image, named the Cosmic Cliffs, resembles craggy mountains on a moonlit evening.
This landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula.
It is the edge of NGC 3324's massive, gaseous cavity, and the tallest "peaks" in this image are about 7 light-years high
Webb's image of Stephan’s Quintet shows 5 galaxies, 4 of which interact. These colliding galaxies pull and stretch each other in a gravitational dance.
Stunning new Webb telescope images are coming your way soon, so get ready. Meet our "star-crossed lovers." Two stars both alike in dignity, in the fair Southern Ring planetary nebula.
The image on the left is from Webb's NIRCam instrument, which saw this nebula in the near-infrared.The same nebula as seen by Webb's MIRI instrument in the mid-infrared is shown on the right.
Webb spotted the unambiguous signature of water, indications of haze, and evidence for clouds. This is the most detailed exoplanet spectrum to date!