Jump to content
Join the Alien Search, login or register FREE on Aliens and Space Forum
Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site

Meet the Infrared Telescopes That Paved the Way for NASA’s Webb

NASA

By NASA
in NASA

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Publishers
NASA Mentor

NASA

Posted
  • Publishers
Posted
Scientists have been studying the universe with infrared space telescopes for 40 years, including these NASA missions, from left: the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), launched in 1983; the Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in 2003; and the James Webb Space Telescope, launched in 2021.
Scientists have been studying the universe with infrared space telescopes for 40 years, including these NASA missions, from left: the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), launched in 1983; the Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in 2003; and the James Webb Space Telescope, launched in 2021.
NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Webb telescope has opened a new window onto the universe, but it builds on missions going back 40 years, including Spitzer and the Infrared Astronomical Satellite.

On Dec. 25, NASA will celebrate the two-year launch anniversary of the James Webb Space Telescope – the largest and most powerful space observatory in history. The clarity of its images has inspired the world, and scientists are just beginning to explore the scientific bounty it is returning.

Webb’s success builds on four decades of space telescopes that also detect infrared light (which is invisible to the naked eye) – in particular the work of two retired NASA telescopes with big anniversaries this past year: January marked the 40th year since the launch of the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), while August marked the 20th launch anniversary of the Spitzer Space Telescope.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope builds on four decades of work by space telescopes that also detect infrared light, in particular two other retired NASA telescopes: the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and the Spitzer Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This heritage shines through in NASA’s images of Rho Ophiuchi, one of the closest star-forming regions to Earth. IRAS was the first infrared telescope ever launched into Earth orbit, above the atmosphere that blocks most infrared wavelengths. Rho Ophiuchi’s thick clouds of gas and dust block visible light, but IRAS’ infrared vision made it the first observatory to be able to pierce those layers to reveal newborn stars nestled deep inside.

Twenty years later, Spitzer’s multiple infrared detectors helped astronomers assign more specific ages to many of the stars in the region, providing insights about how young stars throughout the universe evolve. Webb’s even more detailed infrared view shows jets bursting from young stars, as well as disks of material around them – the makings of future planetary systems.

Another example is Fomalhaut, a star surrounded by a disk of debris similar to our asteroid belt. Forty years ago, the disk was one of IRAS’ major discoveries because it also strongly suggested the presence of at least one planet, at a time when no planets had yet been found outside the solar system. Subsequent observations by Spitzer showed the disk had two sections – a cold, outer region and a warm, inner region – and revealed more evidence of the presence of planets.

Many other telescopes, including NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, have since studied Fomalhaut, and earlier this year, images from Webb gave scientists their clearest view of the disk structure yet. It revealed two previously unseen rings of rock and gas in the inner disk. Combining the work of generations of telescopes is bringing the story of Fomalhaut into sharp relief.

Visionary Infrared Astronomy Survey

When IRAS launched in 1983, scientists weren’t sure what the mission would reveal. They couldn’t predict that infrared would eventually be used in almost every area of astronomy, including studies of the evolution of galaxies, the life cycle of stars, the source of pervasive cosmic dust, the atmospheres of exoplanets, the movements of asteroids and other near-Earth objects, and even the nature of one of the biggest cosmological mysteries in history, dark energy.

IRAS set the stage for the European-led Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and the Herschel Space Observatory; the Japanese-led AKARI satellite; NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), and the agency’s airborne SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy), as well as many balloon-lofted observatories.

“Infrared light is essential for understanding where we came from and how we got here, on both the biggest and smallest astrophysical scales,” said Michael Werner, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Werner, who specializes in infrared observations, served as project scientist for Spitzer. “We use infrared to look back in space and time, to help us understand how the modern universe came to be. And infrared enables us to study the formation and evolution of stars and planets, which tells us about the history of our own solar system.”

On to Spitzer

If IRAS was a pathfinding mission, Spitzer was designed to dive deep into the infrared universe. Many of Webb’s planetary targets in its first year had already been studied with Spitzer, which pursued a broad range of science goals, thanks to its wide field of view and relatively high resolution. During its 16-year mission, Spitzer uncovered new wonders from the edge of the universe (including some of the most distant galaxies ever observed at the time) to our own solar system (such as a new ring around Saturn). Researchers were also surprised to find that the telescope was a perfect tool for studying exoplanets (planets beyond our solar system), something they hadn’t expected when building it.

“With any telescope, you’re not just taking data for the sake of it; you’re asking a particular question or a series of questions,” said Sean Carey, a former manager for the Spitzer Science Center at IPAC, a data and science processing center at Caltech. “The questions we’re able to ask with Webb are much more complex and varied because of the knowledge we acquired with telescopes like Spitzer and IRAS.”

For example, Carey said, “We studied exoplanets with Spitzer and Hubble, and we figured out what you can do with an infrared telescope in that field, what types of planets are most interesting, and what you can learn about them. So when Webb launched, we jumped into exoplanet studies right from the get-go.”

Webb, too, is paving the way for future infrared missions. NASA’s upcoming SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission as well as the agency’s next flagship observatory, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, will continue to explore the universe in infrared.

More About the Missions

IRAS was a joint project of NASA, the Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programmes, and the United Kingdom’s Science and Engineering Research Council. The mission was managed for NASA by JPL. Caltech in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about IRAS, visit:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/infrared-astronomical-satellite-iras

JPL managed the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington until the mission was retired in January 2020. Science operations were conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech. Spacecraft operations were based at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive operated by IPAC at Caltech.

For more information about Spitzer, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/spitzer

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

For more information about Webb, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/webb

News Media Contact

Calla Cofield
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-808-2469
calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov

2023-186

Share

Details

Last Updated
Dec 22, 2023

Related Terms

Explore More

header.jpg
6 min read

A Look Through Time with NASA’s Lead Photographer for the James Webb Space Telescope

Nearly two years ago in the early morning hours of Dec. 25, NASA’s James Webb…

Article 2 hours ago
1-mackenzie-river-delta.jpeg?w=300
5 min read

As the Arctic Warms, Its Waters Are Emitting Carbon

Article 23 hours ago
grtl-square.jpg
5 min read

NASA’s Fermi Mission Creates 14-Year Time-Lapse of the Gamma-Ray Sky

The cosmos comes alive in an all-sky time-lapse movie made from 14 years of data…

Article 2 days ago

View the full article

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Similar Topics

    • NASA
      NASA Johnson Honors Hispanic Heritage: Meet Manuel Retana 
      By NASA
      Manuel Retana arrived in the U.S. at 15 years old, unable to speak English and with nothing but a dream and $200 in his pocket. Now, he plays a crucial role implementing life support systems on spacecraft that will carry humans to the Moon and, eventually, Mars—paving the way for the next frontier of space exploration. 

      A project manager for NASA’s Johnson Space Center Life Support Systems Branch in Houston, Retana helps to ensure astronaut safety aboard the International Space Station and for future Artemis missions. His work involves tracking on-orbit technical issues, managing the cost and schedule impacts of flight projects, and delivering emergency hardware. 
      Manuel Retana stands in front of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. One of his most notable achievements came during the qualification of the Orion Smoke Eater Filter for the Artemis II and III missions. The filter is designed to remove harmful gases and particulates from the crew cabin in the event of a fire inside the spacecraft. Retana was tasked with creating a cost-effective test rig – a critical step for making the filter safe for flight. 

      Retana’s philosophy is simple: “Rockets do not build themselves. People build rockets, and your ability to work with people will define how well your rocket is built.” 

      Throughout his career, Retana has honed his soft skills—communication, leadership, collaboration, and conflict resolution—to foster an environment of success. 

      Retana encourages his colleagues to learn new languages and share their unique perspectives. He even founded NASA’s first Mariachi ensemble, allowing him to share his cultural heritage in the workplace. 

      He believes diversity of thought is a key element in solving complex challenges as well as creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their perspectives. 

      “You need to be humble and have a willingness to always be learning,” he said. “What makes a strong team is the fact that not everyone thinks the same way.” 
      Manuel Retana, center, performs with the Mariachi Ensemble group at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. For the future of space exploration, Retana is excited about the democratization of space, envisioning a world where every country has the opportunity to explore. He is eager to see humanity reach the Moon, Mars, and beyond, driven by the quest to answer the universe’s most enigmatic questions. 

      To the Artemis Generation, he says, “Never lose hope, and it is never too late to start following your dreams, no matter how far you are.” 
      View the full article
    • NASA
      NASA’s Webb Peers into the Extreme Outer Galaxy
      By NASA
      5 Min Read NASA’s Webb Peers into the Extreme Outer Galaxy
      This image shows a portion of the star-forming region, known as Digel Cloud 2S (full image below). Credits:
      NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, M. Ressler (JPL) Astronomers have directed NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to examine the outskirts of our Milky Way galaxy. Scientists call this region the Extreme Outer Galaxy due to its location more than 58,000 light-years away from the Galactic Center. (For comparison, Earth is approximately 26,000 light-years from the center.)
      A team of scientists used Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) to image select regions within two molecular clouds known as Digel Clouds 1 and 2. With its high degree of sensitivity and sharp resolution, the Webb data resolved these areas, which are hosts to star clusters undergoing bursts of star formation, in unprecedented detail. Details of this data include components of the clusters such as very young (Class 0) protostars, outflows and jets, and distinctive nebular structures.
      These Webb observations, which came from telescope time allocated to Mike Ressler of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, are enabling scientists to study star formation in the outer Milky Way in the same depth of detail as observations of star formation in our own solar neighborhood.
      “In the past, we knew about these star forming regions but were not able to delve into their properties,” said Natsuko Izumi of Gifu University and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, lead author of the study. “The Webb data builds upon what we have incrementally gathered over the years from prior observations with different telescopes and observatories. We can get very powerful and impressive images of these clouds with Webb. In the case of Digel Cloud 2, I did not expect to see such active star formation and spectacular jets.”
      Image A: Extreme Outer Galaxy (NIRCam and MIRI)
      Scientists used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to examine select star-forming areas in the Extreme Outer Galaxy in near- and mid-infrared light. Within this star-forming region, known as Digel Cloud 2S, the telescope observed young, newly formed stars and their extended jets of material. This Webb image also shows a dense sea of background galaxies and red nebulous structures within the region. In this image, colors were assigned to different filters from Webb’s MIRI and NIRCam: red (F1280W, F770W, F444W), green (F356W, F200W), and blue (F150W; F115W). NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, M. Ressler (JPL) Stars in the Making
      Although the Digel Clouds are within our galaxy, they are relatively poor in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. This composition makes them similar to dwarf galaxies and our own Milky Way in its early history. Therefore, the team took the opportunity to use Webb to capture the activity occurring in four clusters of young stars within Digel Clouds 1 and 2: 1A, 1B, 2N, and 2S.
      For Cloud 2S, Webb captured the main cluster containing young, newly formed stars. This dense area is quite active as several stars are emitting extended jets of material along their poles. Additionally, while scientists previously suspected a sub-cluster might be present within the cloud, Webb’s imaging capabilities confirmed its existence for the first time. 
      “We know from studying other nearby star-forming regions that as stars form during their early life phase, they start emitting jets of material at their poles,” said Ressler, second author of the study and principal investigator of the observing program. “What was fascinating and astounding to me from the Webb data is that there are multiple jets shooting out in all different directions from this cluster of stars. It’s a little bit like a firecracker, where you see things shooting this way and that.”
      The Saga of Stars
      The Webb imagery skims the surface of the Extreme Outer Galaxy and the Digel Clouds, and is just a starting point for the team. They intend to revisit this outpost in the Milky Way to find answers to a variety of current mysteries, including the relative abundance of stars of various masses within Extreme Outer Galaxy star clusters. This measurement can help astronomers understand how a particular environment can influence different types of stars during their formation.
      “I’m interested in continuing to study how star formation is occurring in these regions. By combining data from different observatories and telescopes, we can examine each stage in the evolution process,” said Izumi. “We also plan to investigate circumstellar disks within the Extreme Outer Galaxy. We still don’t know why their lifetimes are shorter than in star-forming regions much closer to us. And of course, I’d like to understand the kinematics of the jets we detected in Cloud 2S.”
      Though the story of star formation is complex and some chapters are still shrouded in mystery, Webb is gathering clues and helping astronomers unravel this intricate tale.
      These findings have been published in the Astronomical Journal.
      The observations were taken as part of Guaranteed Time Observation program 1237.
      The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
      Downloads
      Right click any image to save it or open a larger version in a new tab/window via the browser’s popup menu.
      View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
      View/Download the research results from the Astronomical Journal.
      Media Contacts
      Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov, Rob Gutro – rob.gutro@nasa.gov
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
      Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu, Abigail Major – amajor@stsci.edu
      Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
      Related Information
      Animation Video: “Exploring Star and Planet Formation”
      Interactive: Explore the jets emitted by young stars in multiple wavelengths
      Video: Did You Know: Images of the Milky Way
      Protostars
      Star Lifecycle
      More Webb News
      More Webb Images
      Webb Science Themes
      Webb Mission Page
      Related For Kids
      What is the Webb Telescope?
      SpacePlace for Kids
      En Español
      Ciencia de la NASA
      NASA en español 
      Space Place para niños
      Keep Exploring Related Topics
      James Webb Space Telescope


      Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…


      Stars



      Stars Stories



      Universe


      Share








      Details
      Last Updated Sep 11, 2024 Editor Marty McCoy Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related Terms
      Astrophysics Goddard Space Flight Center James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Protostars Science & Research Star Clusters Star-forming Nebulae Stars The Milky Way The Universe View the full article
    • European Space Agency
      Webb peers into the Extreme Outer Galaxy
      By European Space Agency
      Image: Digel Cloud 2S View the full article
    • NASA
      Sols 4297-4299: This Way to Tungsten Hills
      By NASA
      Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 2 min read
      Sols 4297-4299: This Way to Tungsten Hills
      This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera aboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4296 — Martian day 4,296 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — on Sept. 6, 2024, at 06:47:03 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 6, 2024
      Contact science in our immediate workspace includes a joint effort by MAHLI and APXS to characterize a gray rock with two targets named “Big Baldy” and “Big Bird Lake.” ChemCam focused its Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument on a rock with a reddish coating, “Purple Creek,” and a light-toned rock, “Garlic Meadow,” to determine their chemical composition. ChemCam included a long distance RMI image of the yardang unit that caps Mount Sharp as well as a standard post-drive AEGIS activity, which allows autonomous target selection for upcoming geochemical spectrometry.
      The Mastcam team assembled several beautiful mosaics to document Curiosity’s surroundings. One mosaic will extend the imaging of the current workspace and is planned at dusk to take advantage of the diffuse lighting. Two separate mosaics, one of which is in stereo, will characterize the floor of the depression in front of Tungsten Hills to investigate the exposed light rocks and document depositional processes. Finally, a stereo mosaic will image Tungsten Hills and the surrounding terrain in advance of our approach over the weekend.
      With the weekend plan in place the science team will now patiently wait for data to be returned and for planning to resume on Monday!
      Curiosity completed an impressive 60-meter drive (about 197 feet) across the channel floor within Gediz Vallis and parked along the edge of a shallow linear depression. Just about 20 meters (66 feet) away, an intriguing dark, textured rock named “Tungsten Hills” is the destination for our weekend drive and our contact science on Monday. Today I served as the “Keeper of the Plan” for the Geology theme group and worked with the science team to compile a variety of contact science and targeted science in this three-sol plan.
      Written by Sharon Wilson Purdy, Planetary Geologist at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
      Share








      Details
      Last Updated Sep 10, 2024 Related Terms
      Blogs Explore More
      2 min read Persevering Through the Storm
      It’s dust-storm season on Mars! Over the past couple of weeks, as we ascended the…


      Article


      4 days ago
      2 min read Sols 4295-4296: A Martian Moon and Planet Earth


      Article


      4 days ago
      2 min read Sol 4294: Return to McDonald Pass


      Article


      5 days ago
      Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      Mars


      Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…


      All Mars Resources


      Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…


      Rover Basics


      Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…


      Mars Exploration: Science Goals


      The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…

      View the full article
    • NASA
      NASA’s Webb Reveals Distorted Galaxy Forming Cosmic Question Mark
      By NASA
      5 Min Read NASA’s Webb Reveals Distorted Galaxy Forming Cosmic Question Mark
      The galaxy cluster MACS-J0417.5-1154. Full image below. Credits:
      NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, V. Estrada-Carpenter (Saint Mary’s University). It’s 7 billion years ago, and the universe’s heyday of star formation is beginning to slow. What might our Milky Way galaxy have looked like at that time? Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found clues in the form of a cosmic question mark, the result of a rare alignment across light-years of space.
      “We know of only three or four occurrences of similar gravitational lens configurations in the observable universe, which makes this find exciting, as it demonstrates the power of Webb and suggests maybe now we will find more of these,” said astronomer Guillaume Desprez of Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a member of the team presenting the Webb results.
      Image A: Lensed Question Mark (NIRCam)
      The galaxy cluster MACS-J0417.5-1154 is so massive it is warping the fabric of space-time and distorting the appearance of galaxies behind it, an effect known as gravitational lensing. This natural phenomenon magnifies distant galaxies and can also make them appear in an image multiple times, as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope saw here. Two distant, interacting galaxies — a face-on spiral and a dusty red galaxy seen from the side — appear multiple times, tracing a familiar shape across the sky. Active star formation, and the face-on galaxy’s remarkably intact spiral shape, indicate that these galaxies’ interaction is just beginning. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, V. Estrada-Carpenter (Saint Mary’s University). While this region has been observed previously with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the dusty red galaxy that forms the intriguing question-mark shape only came into view with Webb. This is a result of the wavelengths of light that Hubble detects getting trapped in cosmic dust, while longer wavelengths of infrared light are able to pass through and be detected by Webb’s instruments.
      Astronomers used both telescopes to observe the galaxy cluster MACS-J0417.5-1154, which acts like a magnifying glass because the cluster is so massive it warps the fabric of space-time. This allows astronomers to see enhanced detail in much more distant galaxies behind the cluster. However, the same gravitational effects that magnify the galaxies also cause distortion, resulting in galaxies that appear smeared across the sky in arcs and even appear multiple times. These optical illusions in space are called gravitational lensing.
      The red galaxy revealed by Webb, along with a spiral galaxy it is interacting with that was previously detected by Hubble, are being magnified and distorted in an unusual way, which requires a particular, rare alignment between the distant galaxies, the lens, and the observer — something astronomers call a hyperbolic umbilic gravitational lens. This accounts for the five images of the galaxy pair seen in Webb’s image, four of which trace the top of the question mark. The dot of the question mark is an unrelated galaxy that happens to be in the right place and space-time, from our perspective.
      Image B: Hubble and Webb Side by Side
      Image Before/After In addition to producing a case study of the Webb NIRISS (Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph) instrument’s ability to detect star formation locations within a galaxy billions of light-years away, the research team also couldn’t resist highlighting the question mark shape. “This is just cool looking. Amazing images like this are why I got into astronomy when I was young,” said astronomer Marcin Sawicki of Saint Mary’s University, one of the lead researchers on the team. 
      “Knowing when, where, and how star formation occurs within galaxies is crucial to understanding how galaxies have evolved over the history of the universe,” said astronomer Vicente Estrada-Carpenter of Saint Mary’s University, who used both Hubble’s ultraviolet and Webb’s infrared data to show where new stars are forming in the galaxies. The results show that star formation is widespread in both. The spectral data also confirmed that the newfound dusty galaxy is located at the same distance as the face-on spiral galaxy, and they are likely beginning to interact.
      “Both galaxies in the Question Mark Pair show active star formation in several compact regions, likely a result of gas from the two galaxies colliding,” said Estrada-Carpenter. “However, neither galaxy’s shape appears too disrupted, so we are probably seeing the beginning of their interaction with each other.”
      “These galaxies, seen billions of years ago when star formation was at its peak, are similar to the mass that the Milky Way galaxy would have been at that time. Webb is allowing us to study what the teenage years of our own galaxy would have been like,” said Sawicki.
      The Webb images and spectra in this research came from the Canadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS). The research paper is published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
      Image C: Wide Field – Lensed Question Mark (NIRCam)
      The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
      Downloads
      Right click any image to save it or open a larger version in a new tab/window via the browser’s popup menu.
      View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
      View/Download the research results from the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
      Media Contacts
      Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov, Rob Gutro – rob.gutro@nasa.gov
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
      Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu , Leah Ramsey – lramsey@stsci.edu
      Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
      Related Information
      VIDEO: Gravity – Nature’s Magnifying Glass
      VIDEO: What happens when galaxies collide?

      ARTICLE: More about Galaxy Evolution

      VIDEO: Learn more about Galactic Collisions
      More Webb News
      More Webb Images
      Webb Science Themes
      Webb Mission Page
      Related For Kids
      What is a galaxy?
      What is the Webb Telescope?
      SpacePlace for Kids
      En Español
      Para Niños : Qué es una galaxia?
      Ciencia de la NASA
      NASA en español 
      Space Place para niños
      Keep Exploring Related Topics
      James Webb Space Telescope


      Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…


      Galaxies



      Galaxies Stories



      Universe


      Share








      Details
      Last Updated Sep 04, 2024 Editor Stephen Sabia Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related Terms
      Astrophysics Galaxies Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Galaxy clusters Goddard Space Flight Center Gravitational Lensing James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Science & Research The Universe View the full article

  • Check out these Videos

×
×
  • Create New...