One Year of James Webb’s Discoveries: From the Detection of Images to Water Vapor

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The James Webb Telescope officially began operating on June 1, 2022. Remember the main images of the equipment.

Julia can

4 hours ago

Image: James Webb Space Telescope James Webb/Flickr/Playback

The James Webb Space Telescope was officially opened on June 1, 2022 and has been in the news ever since with stunning images and remarkable discoveries of the universe.

It’s no coincidence: this is the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built: the See the infrared spectrum It allows you to see objects that are more than 13 billion light years away from Earth.

Since its launch in December 2021, the instrument has seen newly formed galaxies, probed the atmospheres of distant exoplanets and provided fascinating detail about the solar system. Recently, water vapor was detected on a comet between Mars and Jupiter.

On June 1, 2022, NASA announced that the telescope was put into operation after the calibration process. After that, there have been many more discoveries since the first scientific image released on July 11th. Since then, many have come – and there is still much to explore in the depths of the universe.

Next, remember the top ten discoveries of the James Webb Space Telescope and see what NASA technicians predict for the future of this revolutionary technology.

First time

On July 11, 2022, NASA released the first color image of James Webb. And it wasn’t just a thing: the image is More detailed deep field record I did. A study released in November showed that some of the stars in this image could be The oldest in the universe.

cosmic slopes

The next day, another startling discovery: records made of distant galaxies by the telescope’s NIRCam and MIRI instruments. Among them are the “cosmic cliffs” in the Carina Nebula. See more here.

Unexposed Jupiter

When you target Jupiter, in August last year, James Webb Specific details never seen before From moons and aurora to storms from a neighboring planet.

Image of Jupiter taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; Image processing by Ricardo Hueso (UPV/EHU) and Judy Schmidt/Reproduce

Find carbon dioxide outside the solar system

telescope found CO2 (carbon dioxide) – an essential element for life – for the first time on a planet outside our solar system on August 3. The compound was found in the atmosphere of WASP-39 b, a celestial body located 700 light-years/y6 from Earth.

Stars are born

In September, James Webb Registered star nurserylater dubbed the Tarantula Nebula, in reference to the threads resembling arachnids’ webs.

pillars of creation

It is perhaps one of the most talked about photos of James Webb. hardware I targeted a stellar nursery in the Eagle Nebula6,500 light-years from Earth. The structure was already captured by the Hubble telescope in 1995 and 2014, but James Webb’s infrared vision managed to capture details never seen before.

“hot saturn”

In November, James Webb was able to identify the elements in The atmosphere of planet WASP-39b, also known as “hot Saturn”. Among the compounds are water, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, sodium and potassium. This was the first time a telescope had found chemical compounds on exoplanets.

The first planet outside the solar system

a First identified exoplanet by James Webb is LHS 475b. Orbiting a star outside the Milky Way, the star is rocky and does not appear to have an atmosphere. It is also very close to Earth, only 41 light years away.

A galaxy similar to the Milky Way

In February of this year, scientists saw through James Webb a A galaxy similar in composition to the Milky Way in your childhood. The discovery should help researchers study how the solar system evolved.

Water vapor

James Webb’s last great discovery was water vapor around the comet In the main asteroid belt, a group of space rocks lies between Mars and Jupiter.

This wasn’t the first time. In early May, he saw a telescope Water vapor near exoplanet GJ 486b. The star orbits a red dwarf star 26 light-years away, in the constellation Virgo. Scientists are now trying to find out the cause of the steam in these two regions.