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Saturday, October 26, 2024
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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), despite its relatively recent
launch, has profoundly reshaped our understanding of the cosmos. It has
observed planets, stars, galaxies, and black holes, revealing an array of
celestial wonders. Though JWST may seem like a sudden marvel, its
development has been the painstaking work of tens of thousands of scientists
over decades. Among them, Maggie Aderin-Pocock downplays her own role,
choosing instead to highlight the telescope's achievements. "The detail the
telescope can capture, the remarkable resolution provided by its
six-and-a-half-meter mirror, produces some truly magnificent images,"
URANUS
While the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) frequently garners
attention for its insights into the most distant corners of the
universe, it's also ideally suited to capture stunningly detailed
images of planets within our own solar system. “This image says it
all,” notes Aderin-Pocock. “It’s a magnificent picture of Uranus.
Many aren’t aware that Uranus has rings, yet all of the outer
planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—do. Such detailed
views are rare, and that’s because we’re observing infrared
energy.”
The Carina nebula
Astronomers still have much to learn about the birth
of stars, but the clues are found in nebulae—immense
clouds of gas and dust that span distances far
larger than our solar system. While stellar
nurseries have been imaged for decades, the JWST
allows us to observe details that were previously
hidden. Shown above are the Carina and Ring nebulae.
“With optical telescopes, not all visible light
penetrates the dust and gas,” Aderin-Pocock
explains. “But with an infrared telescope, we see
these nebulae in an entirely new way—revealing
details we’ve never seen before.”
The Pillars of Creation
One of the Hubble Space Telescope’s most iconic
images is of the Pillars of Creation, a section of the
Eagle Nebula—another region where stars are born
within dense clouds of gas and dust. Yet, as
Aderin-Pocock notes, astronomer John Charles Duncan
first captured this image in the 1920s. Now, over a
century later, JWST has provided a fresh perspective
on these three pillars. “It highlights our
technological advancement and progress. Each time we
capture a more detailed image or use a new wavelength
of light, we gain a deeper understanding,” she says.
The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex
Beyond its scientific value, JWST’s infrared images
of nearby stellar clouds, like Rho Ophiuchi, hold
aesthetic appeal. “I love this image,” says
Aderin-Pocock. “To me, it resembles a truly exotic
bird.”
In the 1990s, astronomer Robert Williams directed
Hubble at what seemed an empty patch of sky,
allowing it to collect light over several days.
The resulting image revealed a wealth of galaxies,
many among the youngest and most distant we’d ever
seen. “From this, astronomers estimated there are
about 200 billion galaxies in the universe, which
makes my head spin a bit,” Aderin-Pocock adds.
Galaxy cluster SMACS 0723
JWST has been actively capturing its own
deep-field images, including one of the galaxy
cluster SMACS 0723, allowing us to peer further
back in time than Hubble ever could. “As the
universe expands, wavelengths of light that
start as visible gradually shift into the
infrared,” explains Aderin-Pocock. “These
galaxies existed so long ago and their light
takes such immense time to reach us that viewing
them in infrared offers a fresh perspective on
how they originally appeared.”
The Cartwheel galaxy
In addition to observing distant galaxies, JWST
can focus on nearby ones, offering clues about
the formation of our own Milky Way. “Imagine
you’re a T. rex trying to take a selfie—you
might capture a close-up of your nose or ear,
but it’s tough to fit your whole face in because
you can’t move the camera far enough away,” says
Aderin-Pocock. The Cartwheel Galaxy, formed by
the collision of two smaller galaxies, could
also offer insights into the Milky Way’s future,
as it is expected to collide with the Andromeda
galaxy in billions of years.
RS Puppis
A major puzzle in modern cosmology
is the Hubble tension—a
discrepancy in values when
astronomers use different methods
to measure the universe’s
expansion rate. One method relies
on Cepheid variable stars, like RS
Puppis, which pulsate with
remarkable regularity and were
first extensively mapped by the
Hubble telescope. Astronomers like
Aderin-Pocock hope that JWST’s
ability to capture these stars in
greater detail could clarify
whether the tension stems from
limitations in past telescopes or
suggests a deeper issue within our
current model of the universe.
Galaxy cluster
Abell 2744
For the first time, we are
able to examine supermassive
black holes and their host
galaxies in the early universe
with remarkable detail. Abell
2744, also known as Pandora’s
Cluster, is a galaxy cluster
located 4 billion light-years
from Earth and contains at
least one of these black
holes. JWST’s capability to
observe the gas and dust
surrounding it enables us to
gain insights into how these
black holes form and operate.
When combined with
observations from X-ray
telescopes, this data provides
a comprehensive and detailed
picture, according to
Aderin-Pocock.
Barnard’s
galaxy, also known as NGC
6822
Aderin-Pocock has dedicated
much of her career to
designing instruments for
space, giving her unique
insight into the remarkable
precision and engineering of
JWST. One impressive feature
is its ability to focus on
small areas of the sky, even
amidst densely packed star
fields, thanks to a
microshutter array—tiny
flaps roughly the width of a
few human hairs that can
block out unwanted light.
The star field above
includes Barnard’s star, one
of our closest neighbors,
which has recently been
discovered to have its own
planet. JWST will conduct
further studies on this
intriguing find.
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