The James Webb Space Telescope only launched recently, but scientists are already plotting a planet-hunting telescope that will help find worlds like our own.
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It seems like every few weeks, NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) drop an impressive image from the James Webb Space Telescope that is both stunning to behold and advances our knowledge of the universe. The latest is of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5068, called a "barred" galaxy because of the bright central bar you can see in the upper left of the above image. It's a combination image consisting of infrared shots taken from the telescope's MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) and NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) sensors.
What those sensors captured is a galaxy in the Virgo constellation about 20 million light-years from Earth, and because the JWST can see through the dust and gas that surrounds stars as they're born, the instrument is particularly suited to producing images that show the process of star formation.
Looking at the two individual images that make up the composite reveals different layers of the galaxy. As Gizmodo notes, the image produced by the MIRI sensor provides a view of the galaxy's structure and the glowing gas bubbles that represent newly formed stars.
The second image, taken from the NIRCam, put the focus on a huge swath of stars in the foreground. The composite, meanwhile, shows both the enormous amount of stars in the region as well as the highlights of the stars that have just been "born."
There isn't one specific breakthrough finding in this image; instead, NASA notes that this is part of a wider effort to collect as many images of star formation from nearby galaxies as it can. (No, 20 million light-years doesn't exactly feel nearby to me, either, but that's how things go in space.) NASA pointed to another few images as other "gems" from its collection of star births, including this impressive "Phantom Galaxy" that was shown off last summer. As for what the agency hopes to learn? Simply that star formation "underpins so many fields in astronomy, from the physics of the tenuous plasma that lies between stars to the evolution of entire galaxies." NASA goes on to say that it hopes the data being gathered of galaxies like NGC 5068 can help to "kick-start" major scientific advances, though what those might be remains a mystery.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/latest-webb-telescope-images-gives-a-look-at-stars-being-born-in-the-virgo-constellation-120044569.html?src=rss
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The James Webb Space Telescope is one step closer to probing the depths of the universe. On Wednesday, NASA announced that it was ready to start taking test images and aligning the optics of the JWST after the telescope’s instrumentation reached its final operating temperature of minus 448 degrees Fahrenheit (or minus 267 degrees Celsius) partway through last week.
Cool news! Webb’s MIRI instrument recently passed through its critical “pinch point” and cooled to just a few kelvins above absolute zero, which is the coldest you can go: https://t.co/jjE7xTal0O
Wondering why MIRI is extremely chill? Thread ❄️ pic.twitter.com/a9l7lcZ645
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) April 13, 2022
The JWST has been gradually cooling down ever since its successful December 25th launch, but the telescope took a major step forward on that front when it deployed its massive 70-foot sunshield at the start of the year. That component allowed JWST’s systems, including its critical Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), to drop to a temperature of approximately minus 298 degrees Fahrenheit (or about minus 183 degrees Celsius).
Getting the JWST to its final operating temperature required NASA and the European Space Agency to activate the telescope’s electric “cryocooler.” That in itself involved passing a technical hurdle dubbed the “pinch point,” or the stage at which the James Webb’s instruments went from minus 433 degrees Fahrenheit to minus 448 Fahrenheit.
“The MIRI cooler team has poured a lot of hard work into developing the procedure for the pinch point,” said Analyn Schneider, MIRI project manager for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “The team was both excited and nervous going into the critical activity. In the end, it was a textbook execution of the procedure, and the cooler performance is even better than expected.”
Part of the reason the James Webb needs to be so cold before it can begin its mission is so that its electronics generate the least amount of infrared light possible and are thereby less likely to interfere with its instruments when astronomers turn them toward distant cosmic bodies. The cold temperatures are also required to avoid something called “dark current,” an electrical force that’s generated when the atoms in the telescope’s detectors vibrate. That movement can create false signals that make it more difficult for the telescope to get an accurate picture of a celestial body.
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