NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 11 May 2023: Fomalhaut's debris disk shot by Webb Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope has been marveling us with its capabilities since its launch. NASA's $10 billion space telescope has captured images of stunning galaxies, black holes, and other celestial objects which are millions of light-years away. Recently, the space telescope added another feather to its cap by discovering three concentric debris rings orbiting Fomalhaut, one of the brightest stars in the night sky and the brightest one in the southern Piscis Austrinus constellation.
Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is a snapshot of the dusty debris disk which surrounds Fomalhaut, which is located just 25 light-years away. Just days ago, three concentric debris rings were discovered around the hot star. The debris belts stretch across a gargantuan amount of space, nearly 14 billion miles (23 billion km) from Fomalhaut.
The James Webb Space Telescope, operated in collaboration by NASA and ESA, captures various celestial objects in stunning detail with the help of its suite of highly advanced instruments and cameras, and it made these observations using Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). It was processed by Andras Gaspar of the University of Arizona, Alyssa Pagan (STScI),
It also has sophisticated instruments like the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) which is the primary camera onboard the telescope. It has three specialized filters and captures images in two different infrared ranges. Astonishingly, it can capture some of the farthest-away near-infrared images ever obtained, detecting light from the first stars and galaxies. NIRCam also has coronagraphic and spectroscopic capabilities and is the primary tool for the alignment of the telescope.
The space telescope also has Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) and NIRSpec
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