Tuesday, July 12th 2022

NASA James Webb Space Telescope Peeks 4.6 Billion Years into the Past with its First Public Image

Jul 12th, 2022 01:02 Discuss (21 Comments)

US President Joe Biden on Monday released the first public image from the NASA James Webb Space Telescope. The infrared image was captured by the telescope's NIRCAM (near-infrared camera); and shows in detail the SMACS 0723 galaxy cluster as it appeared 4.6 billion years in the past. In other words, the light received by the telescope started its journey from some 4.6 billion light years away. The image shows thousands of galaxies of various types, including galactic collisions. There is some amount of refraction in the image, probably from from gravitational lensing. The bright objects in the image are local stars. The JWST team may release more images from the telescope's various other instruments, in the coming days. Find higher resolution versions of the image, along with a more detailed description, in the source link below.

Source: NASA

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21 Comments on NASA James Webb Space Telescope Peeks 4.6 Billion Years into the Past with its First Public Image

Blaeza

I've been up there, but it's not the right forum to explain how...

Chris34

Been there too several times thanks to my buddy Hofmann....

Prima.Vera

Seriously, I don't know what's the fuss so big about this picture. Just look at the lens distortion. Is horrid and horrible. Can anyone explained why the picture is so distorted especially in the center? And don't say gravitational lensing. It's too pronounced. Definitely cannot be only that.

R-T-B

Prima.VeraSeriously, I don't know what's the fuss so big about this picture. Just look at the lens distortion. Is horrid and horrible. Can anyone explained why the picture is so distorted especially in the center? And don't say gravitational lensing. It's too pronounced. Definitely cannot be only that.

Have you seen the hubble version?

The fuss is how far away this is and how many more bodies are visible.

tony359

Prima.VeraSeriously, I don't know what's the fuss so big about this picture. Just look at the lens distortion. Is horrid and horrible. Can anyone explained why the picture is so distorted especially in the center? And don't say gravitational lensing. It's too pronounced. Definitely cannot be only that.

You’re joking, right?

Wirko

BlaezaI've been up there, but it's not the right forum to explain how...

Hey ... was it you who left all those whisky bottles there? And burger wrappers?

Upgrayedd

Chris34Been there too several times thanks to my buddy Hofmann....

Put the glasses on!!!

WirkoHey ... was it you who left all those whisky bottles there? And burger wrappers?

Those take you in the opposite direction.

Kaapstad

Prima.VeraSeriously, I don't know what's the fuss so big about this picture. Just look at the lens distortion. Is horrid and horrible. Can anyone explained why the picture is so distorted especially in the center? And don't say gravitational lensing. It's too pronounced. Definitely cannot be only that.

It's not distortion.
The telescope is moving about its axis.
Amateurs at NASA lol.

Chaitanya

Nasa has scheduled a livestream starting in few minutes regarding more images from JWST and explaining those images.

#10

Blaeza

WirkoHey ... was it you who left all those whisky bottles there? And burger wrappers?

Like I said I am unable to discuss my means of travel on such a wholesome forum. No liquor was involved...

#11

R-T-B

KaapstadAmateurs at NASA lol.

These "Amateurs" have the most advanced telescope in space right now.

#12

Imsochobo

Prima.VeraSeriously, I don't know what's the fuss so big about this picture. Just look at the lens distortion. Is horrid and horrible. Can anyone explained why the picture is so distorted especially in the center? And don't say gravitational lensing. It's too pronounced. Definitely cannot be only that.

Hold a spec of grain out at arms length, zoom into that spec until you see that, out in space with a Gigantic lens, for 32 hours or so, in infrared stretched light.

That's why you have lensing, it's so massive large structures that causes gravitational lensing.

#13

TheoneandonlyMrK

Chris34Been there too several times thanks to my buddy Hofmann....

I used tablets, shroomms or other, I hate cold showers.

Fantastic pic , looks to me though like there's a slight preference of the galaxy's to curve around the camera so to speak, in clearly not technical terms.

Is it me?!.

#14

directx 10

Prima.VeraSeriously, I don't know what's the fuss so big about this picture. Just look at the lens distortion. Is horrid and horrible. Can anyone explained why the picture is so distorted especially in the center? And don't say gravitational lensing. It's too pronounced. Definitely cannot be only that.

That's funny! :D
Is not about lens's distortion, is just because the telescope is current focused to a super massime galaxy (at the top middle of the photo) who generates a huge space distortion, so we can say that it's an effect of gravity power that influences the images itself.
You have to rember that you are watching one of deepest Universe's photo ever taked, distant in space and time (light takes 46 BILIONS year to arrive lol)

#15

cvaldes

R-T-BThese "Amateurs" have the most advanced telescope in space right now.

Yes, and they used some of my tax dollars to make it happen.

:)

I'm hoping that the James Webb Space Telescope has a long and productive life that extends long after its mission brief.

#16

The Von Matrices

Can someone explain to me how the images are in color rather than grayscale considering this is an infrared telescope? Do the different colors actually mean anything or are they just to look pretty? It reminds me of the famous image of the Three Pillars that most people don't realize is actually false color and looks completely different in visible light.

#17

R-T-B

cvaldesYes, and they used some of my tax dollars to make it happen.

:)

I'm hoping that the James Webb Space Telescope has a long and productive life that extends long after its mission brief.

All us American taxpayers do. Well, the sane ones anyways. I'm sure there is some crazy somewhere hoping it will blow up. :laugh:

#18

Wirko

The Von MatricesCan someone explain to me how the images are in color rather than grayscale considering this is an infrared telescope? Do the different colors actually mean anything or are they just to look pretty? It reminds me of the famous image of the Three Pillars that most people don't realize is actually false color and looks completely different in visible light.

A TPU member explained this nicely.

Lew ZealandYes, definitely false color but pretty much every picture of the night sky which is taken of a galaxy or anything other than a Solar System object uses false color. >99% of them. For instance, all those wonderful Hubble images are false color with different specific wavelengths mapped to B, G, and R, usually Oxygen III, Hydrogen Alpha, and then something else of interest, usually Sulfur II, respectively.

I'm not sure if this applies here exactly, given that oxygen III emits/absorbs green visible light. It could only become infrared due to strong red shift. However, in general, three different bands of wavelenghts get mapped to R, G and B.

Also keep in mind that some pretty pictures were made by combining the images from several different telescopes, possibly taken years apart.

#19

Octavean

J.J. Abrams: More lens flare! More!!! I said more lens flare, pffft,…F#king amateurs!!!

#20

Prima.Vera

ImsochoboHold a spec of grain out at arms length, zoom into that spec until you see that, out in space with a Gigantic lens, for 32 hours or so, in infrared stretched light.

That's why you have lensing, it's so massive large structures that causes gravitational lensing.

It's too pronounced. If you look at the picture, is like the telescope was spinning on it's axe when it took the long exposure photos. And some of them are not deformed because the exposure was shorter. Also, my guess that this is actually several pictures taken with different exposure length, then mixed together into a single one.

#21

Wirko

Prima.VeraAlso, my guess that this is actually several pictures taken with different exposure length, then mixed together into a single one.

This part is true. Cameras on space telescopes have a monochrome sensor and many filters for different wavelengths on a wheel (plus prisms for spectrometry - Hubble) so they can't take a colour photo in a single exposure.

Some more info about wavelengths used, and images of the same part of the sky taken by two cameras (near IR and mid IR)

Description of filters

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NASA James Webb Space Telescope Peeks 4.6 Billion Years into the Past with its First Public Image

21 Comments on NASA James Webb Space Telescope Peeks 4.6 Billion Years into the Past with its First Public Image

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