What the James Webb Space Telescope Can See

The Carina Nebula may seem to be a fanciful science fiction illustration, but scientists explain that the swirls and sparkles visible in the James Webb Space Telescope’s infrared image shows conditions under which stars are formed—or the conditions that prevent them from being formed. The “peaks” in the image are walls of hot ionized gas and dust, moving away from ultraviolet radiation that is emanating from young stars. But a star’s birth can be derailed by a disturbance in its creation, and the Webb may be able to provide clues to the number of stars that may form in a certain region or why they form at a certain side.

The Hubble Space Telescope introduced Carina, which contains several star clusters, to the world in 2009.

The new, updated, version of this galaxy group reveals never-before-seen details. The proximity of this group gives astronomers a ringside seat to galactic mergers and interactions. This enormous mosaic is the Webb’s largest image to date, covering about one-fifth of the Moon’s diameter. The image captures outflows driven by a supermassive black hole in one of the groups, galaxies in a level of detail never seen before. Sweeping tails of gas, dust and stars are being pulled from several of the galaxies due to gravitational interactions. Most dramatically, the Webb captures huge shock waves as one of the galaxies, NCG 7318B, smashes through the cluster.

The first compact galaxy group ever discovered, consisting of five galaxies. Stephan’s Quintet, visible in the constellation Pegasus, was discovered by Édouard Stephan in 1877.

NASA's James Webb Telescope has cast the Southern Ring Nebula in an entirely new light. Two cameras aboard the Webb captured the latest image of the planetary nebula, cataloged as NGC 3132, which is approximately 2,500 light years away. Observing the nebula in mid-Infared wavelengths, the Webb imaged the second, dusty star at the center in more detail. The star closely orbits its companion as it periodically ejects layers of gas and dust. Scientists are using these images to learn how stars evolve.

The Southern Ring Nebula is also known as the "eight burst" because it appears to be a figure eight when seen through telescopes. In the new general catalog, it is referred to as NGC 3132.

The WASP- 96b, a giant hot gas exoplanet, orbits a sun-like star roughly 1,150 light years away, in the constellation Phoenix. Based on ground-based observations, WASP-96b was discovered in 2014. The Webb was able to discern the signature of water and evidence of clouds and haze in the atmosphere of this exoplanet. The measurements are the most detailed of their kind, marking a step toward being able to find distant planets that are similar to Earth.

In a July 11 ceremony with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Biden unveiled the Webb’s image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago. In it, SMACS-0723 is a small patch of the sky where foreground galaxy clusters amplify distant galaxies. This composite of images taken over 12.5 hr. by the Near Infrared Camera captures infrared wavelengths that go beyond the deepest images recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope. In the future, the Webb will stare even deeper into the universe’s past. The Webb also used its Mid-Infrared Instrument, which highlights the existence of dust or the absence of it.