Across the Galaxy with James Webb

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals a kaleidoscope of wonders right in our own cosmic backyard.

Humanity gots its last glimpse of the James Webb Space Telescope on 2022. A shimmering jewel, it looked tiny set against the baby-blue curvature of the earth, to say nothing of the vast darkness of space.

“Here it is: humanity’s final look at the James Webb Space Telescope as it heads into deep space to answer our biggest questions. Alone in the vastness of space, Webb will soon begin an approximately two-week process to deploy its antennas, mirrors, and sunshield. This image was captured by the cameras on board the rocket’s upper stage as the telescope separated from it. The Earth hover in the upper right. (Credit: Arianespace, ESA, NASA, CSA, CNES)

As fragile as a paper sailboat, sealed with wax and sailing out into a vast sea, James Webb was launched past the safety of earth’s temperate atmosphere on Christmas Day, 2021.

Against all odds, Webb’s many delicate, intricate parts and precision instruments survived all the rigors of launch. Even more astonishing, the telescope survived a subsequent unfurling of its main mirror…in space.

And a meteor strike or two.

“The alignment of the telescope across all of Webb’s instruments can be seen in a series of images that captures the observatory’s full field of view. Engineering images of sharply focused stars in the field of view of each instrument demonstrate that the telescope is fully aligned and in focus. For this test, Webb pointed at part of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, providing a dense field of hundreds of thousands of stars across all the observatory’s sensors. The sizes and positions of the images shown here depict the relative arrangement of each of Webb’s instruments in the telescope’s focal plane, each pointing at a slightly offset part of the sky relative to one another.” (Credit: NASA/STScI)

Webb cleared every initial hurdle and the news couldn’t have been better: The fantastical journey of the James Webb Space Telescope had begun.

“Alignment of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is now complete,” announced NASA April 28, 2022, on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Flickr page. “After full review, the observatory has been confirmed to be capable of capturing crisp, well-focused images with each of its four powerful onboard science instruments.”

“Upon completing the seventh and final stage of telescope alignment, the team held a set of key decision meetings and unanimously agreed that Webb is ready to move forward into its next and final series of preparations, known as science instrument commissioning,” the obviously ecstatic scientists at NASA wrote. “This process will take about two months before scientific operations begin in the summer.”

And begin they did.

Webb’s first transmissions were of some of Earth’s nearest neighbors.

“Graphic of Webb’s 2 NIRCam instrument images of Mars, taken on Sept. 5, 2022. (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Mars JWST/GTO team)

“The image on the left side, titled ‘Close-Up,’ shows 2.1 micron reflected sunlight,” explained NASA of the above image comparison. “This image is mostly mottled dark brown, with 3 lighter brown patches at the top right, top left, and bottom left corners. A gradient color code explains these lighter areas are brighter. Geographic features Syrtis Major, Huygens Crater and Hellas Basin are labeled.”

“The image on the right, titled ‘Heat Map,’ shows ~4.3 micron light that is being given off as heat is lost on Mars,” continued NASA. “Darker, cooler regions are represented by purple and red, with orange and yellow representing brighter, warmer regions. Mars’ poles and northern hemisphere are purple. There is a large yellow portion on the left half where the Sun is nearly overhead. A label that says ‘Subsolar Point’ points to this region. A small orange patch within the yellow area is labeled as ‘Hellas Basin,’ and it is darker due to atmospheric effects.”

When the first images of Jupiter came back, NASA scientists could barely contain their jubilation.

“Jupiter dominates the black background of space. The image is a composite, and shows Jupiter in enhanced color, featuring the planet’s turbulent Great Red Spot, which appears white here. The planet is striated with swirling horizontal stripes of neon turquoise, periwinkle, light pink, and cream. The stripes interact and mix at their edges like cream in coffee. Along both of the poles, the planet glows in turquoise. Bright orange auroras glow just above the planet’s surface at both poles. (Image credit: Webb NIRCam composite image of Jupiter from three filters and alignment due to the planet’s rotation. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Judy Schmidt.)

These brightest and most detailed images yet of Jupiter have already provided scientists around the world with a great deal of new information about the atmosphere and composition of the giant planet.

“A wide field view showcases Jupiter in the upper right quadrant. The planet’s swirling horizontal stripes are rendered in blues, browns, and cream. Electric blue auroras glow above Jupiter’s north and south poles. A white glow emanates out from the auroras. Along the planet’s equator, rings glow in a faint white. These rings are one million times fainter than the planet itself! At the far left edge of the rings, a moon appears as a tiny white dot. Slightly further to the left, another moon glows with tiny white diffraction spikes. The rest of the image is the blackness of space, with faintly glowing white galaxies in the distance. (Image credit: Webb NIRCam composite image (two filters) of Jupiter system, unlabeled (top) and labeled (bottom). Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Ricardo Hueso (UPV/EHU) and Judy Schmidt.)

“We hadn’t really expected it to be this good, to be honest,” said Imke de Pater, planetary astronomer and professor emerita of the University of California, Berkeley. “It’s really remarkable that we can see details on Jupiter together with its rings, tiny satellites, and even galaxies in one image,”

The excitement had just begun when images of Neptune arrived.

“Webb’s view of Neptune and its moons. Here, a large, prominent 8-pointed object, colored in teal, is labeled in small white text as Neptune’s moon Triton on the upper left. A small, pearl-like Neptune is below and to the right of Triton. Neptune’s rings are a standout feature. Surrounding Neptune and its rings are 6 other moons, seen as tiny dots, and labeled (clockwise, starting from 3 o’clock): Despina, Proteus, Larissa, Thalassa, Naiad, Galatea. The background is dark and sprinkled with a few other distant objects. (Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)

Neptune isn’t blue?

“Webb’s latest image is the clearest look at Neptune’s rings in 30+ years, and our first time seeing them in infrared light,” wrote the ecstatic astronomers and astrophysicists of the Goddard NASA Space Center. “Take in Webb’s ghostly, ethereal views of the planet and its dust bands, rings and moons.”

“Some of these rings have not been detected since Voyager 2 flew by in 1989!” NASA observed in a tone of wonder. “What’s that in the upper left? That’s no star. It’s Neptune’s large, unusual moon, Triton! Because Triton is covered in frozen, condensed nitrogen, it reflects 70% of the sunlight that hits it — making it appear very bright to Webb. 6 of Neptune’s other moons can also be seen as tiny dots surrounding Neptune and its rings.”

“In visible light, Neptune appears blue due to small amounts of methane gas in its atmosphere,” explained NASA further. “Here, Webb’s NIRCam instrument observed Neptune at near-infrared wavelengths, so Neptune doesn’t look so blue!”

“In visible light, Neptune appears blue due to small amounts of methane gas in its atmosphere. Webb’s NIRCam instrument instead observed Neptune at near-infrared wavelengths, so Neptune doesn’t look so blue!” (Image credits: Voyager: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Hubble: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley) and the OPAL team. Webb: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)

“Here are three side-by-side images of Neptune,” NASA endeavored to explain. “From left to right, the first is labeled as taken by Voyager 2 in 1989. It’s a dark blue sphere with some pale blue or white streaks against a black background. The second is labeled as taken by Hubble in 2021. It’s a fuzzier and paler blue sphere also set against a black background. The third is labeled as taken by Webb in 2022. As seen in infrared light, Neptune resembles a pearl with thin, concentric oval rings.”

And a pearl it certainly is.

These stunning images of Neptune are perhaps the crowning jewel of the James Webb Space Telescope. At least for now.

“In this Webb image, Neptune resembles a pearl with rings that look like ethereal concentric ovals around it. There are 2 thinner, crisper rings and 2 broader, fainter rings. A few extremely bright patches on the lower half of Neptune represent methane ice clouds. Six tiny white dots, which are six of Neptune’s 14 moons, are scattered among the rings. The background of the image is black. (Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)

What pearls of the galaxy, what precious glowing cosmic jewels and sparkling moons will Webb reveal next?

(contributing writer, Brooke Bell)

KAZMIR Kazmir

Across the Galaxy with James Webb

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals a kaleidoscope of wonders right in our own cosmic backyard.