NASA's Webb Telescope, 1 mn miles from Earth, gives deepest-ever look at universe
The James Webb Space Telescope, from its celestial perch almost 1 million miles from Earth, is giving humanity its deepest look ever into the farthest reaches of the universe. The US space agency NASA on Tuesday released images captured by the telescope, showing in new detail such wonders as a vast cloud of gas surrounding a dying star, and the steamy atmosphere of a giant gassy planet 1,150 light-years from Earth.
Scientists expect a torrent of knowledge from the telescope, which scans infrared frequencies that aren’t visible to the human eye, but are rich in information about the building blocks of the universe.
“I’m very excited,” said Christopher Johns-Krull, a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University in Houston who studies planets outside Earth’s solar system. “The James Webb is going to reveal a lot, and truly move the field forward.”
The telescope “is going to be particularly powerful for looking at planets around other stars,” Johns-Krull said in an interview.
Possibilities include finding a planet that supports life, and knowledge about how galaxies are formed, Johns-Krull said.
During an event Monday President Joe Biden unveiled an initial image that showed thousands of galaxies.
“It’s a new window into the history of our universe,” Biden said at the White House. “It’s astounding to me.”
The James Webb -- named for an early NASA administrator -- launched Dec. 25, after more than two decades of development, at a cost of almost $11 billion.
It is the largest, most powerful and most complex space telescope ever built, according to NASA. Webb is an international program led by NASA with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
The telescope is farther from the sun than the Earth, its instruments
Read more on tech.hindustantimes.com
