JWST’s near-infrared camera imaged the Solar System’s most distant planet, Neptune, showing its rings and high-altitude clouds of methane ice. As a result, infrared light provides the best view of those early times. But in the billions of years it took that light to travel across space to reach Earth, the universe itself expanded, stretching the light to longer-infrared-wavelengths. The earliest stars and galaxies in the universe, hot and newly formed, shine brightest at ultraviolet and visible wavelengths. Next time, they wanted a telescope with infrared eyes. Its data have fueled more than 22,000 papers.īut even before Hubble got off the ground in 1990, astronomers began to plan its successor. The Hubble telescope showed the immense power of a mirror in space. Space telescopes see the universe undistorted by Earth’s atmosphere, whose shifting air causes stars to scintillate, or twinkle, and whose gas molecules block many wavelengths entirely, including much of the infrared. The orange arcs are galaxy images distorted by the lens, some imaged multiple times. JWST’s first deep field image shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, whose strong gravity acts as a gravitational lens, magnifying other more distant galaxies behind it. But few doubt the telescope will revolutionize our picture of the cosmos, and so we name JWST Science’s 2022 Breakthrough of the Year. Although papers started to pop up on preprint servers such as arXiv within days of data being released, firm results are still scarce. It can reveal exquisite detail in closer objects and parse the atmospheres of alien worlds. With the largest mirror ever flown in space and a suite of instruments sensitive to infrared light, JWST will peer further into the past than any predecessor, including the much smaller Hubble Space Telescope. It was like putting on infrared glasses, one said, and seeing the universe anew.īut those images only hint at what is to come. They are “beautiful” and “mind-blowing,” according to astronomers who have spoken with Science. The first data and images beamed back to Earth by JWST suggest it was all worthwhile. NASA ESA CSA STSCI WEBB ERO PRODUCTION TEAM Seen with JWST’s midinfrared instrument, the newborn stars of the Tarantula nebula fade into the background while clouds of dust and gas take center stage, including hydrocarbons that will later form planets. Engineers ticked off a total of 344 critical steps-any one of which could have doomed the mission had they gone wrong. New perils came during the telescope’s monthlong, 1.5-million-kilometer journey into space, as its giant sunshield unfurled and its golden mirror blossomed. Its construction on Earth took 20 years and faced multiple setbacks. It is the most complex science mission ever put into space and at $10 billion the most expensive. Not many telescopes get introduced by the president, but JWST, the gold-plated wunderkind of astronomy built by NASA with the help of the European and Canadian space agencies, deserves that honor. Read the full story…Ī new space telescope makes a spectacular debut after a troubled gestation by Daniel Clery Not many telescopes get introduced by the president, but JWST *, the gold-plated wunderkind of astronomy built by NASA with the help of the European and Canadian space agencies, deserves that honor. Along with millions of people around the world, he marveled at a crush of thousands of galaxies, some seen as they were 13 billion years ago. President Joe Biden unveiled the first image from what he called a “miraculous” new space telescope. On 11 July, in a live broadcast from the White House, U.S. Show / hide sections navigation 2022 Breakthrough of the Year Runners-up Breakdowns Videos
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