13 Designed to detect infrared light from distant sources, Webb itself requires extremely low temperatures in order not to interfere with those faint heat signals. To shield the telescope from heat and light from external sources such as the Sun, Earth, and Moon, scientists designed a five-layered sunshield as large as a tennis court to allow the telescope to work at extremely cool temperatures below -220°C by passively deflecting heat from between the sunshield layers [6]. Since its launch in 2021, Webb has not only provided us with an array of findings and breathtaking images, but also context to the images captured previously by Hubble. One such image was that of the Pillars of Creation, captured in the Eagle Nebula (Figure 1). While Hubble had captured the brown clouds of the structure, Webb was able to leverage its infrared imaging to capture also the individual new stars forming within it [7]. In addition, Webb was able to capture images of the most distant galaxies known to scientists [8]. There were also data that shed light on the collision of galaxies (Figure 2) [9], and the atmospheres of planets inside and outside our solar system [10-12]. Figure 1 Hubble telescope (left) vs. James Webb Space Telescope (right) on the Pillars of Creation [7]. Photo credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI) Figure 2 NGC 3526, the spiral galaxy shown in this image as the wreckage of a collision between two similarly massive galaxies occurred around 500 million years ago [13]. Photo credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, L. Armus, A. Evans The James Webb Space Telescope marks a historic leap in humans’ quest to understand the universe. Its innovative design and cutting-edge technology make it an ideal tool to revolutionize our comprehension of the cosmos. Keep up with the latest discoveries by the James Webb Space Telescope – one of the greatest scientific feats of today’s day and age! 1. Cosmological redshift: It was discovered in 1920s by the cosmologists Georges Lemaître and Edwin Hubble that the universe is expanding, meaning that every object is becoming further apart in the universe, so the incoming light waves from far objects have to travel an increasing distance before reaching us [14]. As a result, the wave is stretched in terms of wavelength and appears “redder” towards the infrared side of the spectrum. The Cosmic Cliffs. The image depicts the edge of a starforming cavity within a cluster, called NGC 3324, located in the Carina Nebula. The ultraviolet radiation and intense winds from the young stars in the center of the cavity carve the area into what is called the “Cosmic Cliffs” [15, 16]. Photo credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI The Ring Nebula. A dying star which previously expelled its outer layers in concentric circles now ionizes and heats up its ejected gas to form this colorful ring-shaped planetary nebula. The bright ring is mainly composed of molecular hydrogen gas [17, 18]. Photo credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, M. Barlow (University College London), N. Cox (ACRI-ST), R. Wesson (Cardiff University) Webb Gallery: A Collection of Stunning Images!
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDk5Njg=