The James Webb Space Telescope survived May meteorite damage and delivered a sweet interstellar miracle in July.
An addition to our #JWSTArt and #UnfoldTheUniverse social media campaigns by Telus Spark, a science center in Calgary, Canada. They created this ice cream treat in tribute to Webb. July 18, 2022. (photo: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope)
“This tribute cone is topped with a yellow sugar cookie representing the telescope’s primary mirror consisting of hexagonal segments made of gold-plated beryllium (6 times larger than Hubble’s main mirror),” said the Telus Spark Science Center in Calgary, Canada, of an ice cream confection they created in honor of the James Webb Deep Space Telescope.
“The vanilla soft-serve ice cream body is covered with crispy honeycomb crumble and pink sugar mimicking the telescope’s tennis court-sized sunshields (protection from the sun’s light and heat) and three chocolate sticks to the represent the supports holding the secondary mirror,” says Telus. “This new ice cream cone is five stars for sure!”
From ice cream cones to more traditional works of art, Webb has inspired stargazers from all over the world and kids of all ages to let their imaginations soar into the heavens with Webb.
During the worst days of COVID19 worldwide, when lockdowns were more rule than exception and classrooms remained closed to in-person learning for over a year, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope provided a once-in-a-lifetime window into the art and science of space exploration.
As they followed Webb’s construction progress, students and artists from all over the world submitted original artwork, haiku poetry and intricate models- always asking and answering the same question over and over. It was the same question NASA scientists couldn’t wait to answer: What would Webb find out there?
Well beyond its great-grandfather, the Hubble Telescope, the James Webb Deep Space Telescope was conceived and designed to see much farther, much better than human beings ever had before.
Getting there wasn’t easy, and like everything else in 2020/2021/2022, COVID19 didn’t make things any easier.
The original launch date was delayed and Webb watchers around the globe held their collective breath. Then, on Christmas Day 2021, Webb blasted into space in a blaze of glory.
Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket launches with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope onboard, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021, from the ELA-3 Launch Zone of Europe’s Spaceport at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called JWST or Webb) is a large infrared telescope with a 21.3 foot (6.5 meter) primary mirror. The observatory will study every phase of cosmic history — from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Next, came the really hard part.
NASA James Webb Space Telescope Commissioning Manager John Durning monitors the progress of the Webb observatory as it’s second primary mirror wing is rotated into position, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022, from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Mission Operations Center at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. Webb, an infrared telescope with a 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) primary mirror, was folded up for launch and underwent an unprecedented deployment process to unfold in space. As NASA’s next flagship observatory, Webb will study every phase of cosmic history — from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Thousands upon thousands of delicate, intricate moving parts and instruments would have to withstand the extreme stresses of launch, only to endure the rigors of space.
Engineering teams at NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Mission Operations Center at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore monitor progress as the observatory’s second primary mirror wing rotates into position, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022. Webb, an infrared telescope with a 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) primary mirror, was folded up for launch and underwent an unprecedented deployment process to unfold in space. As NASA’s next flagship observatory, Webb will study every phase of cosmic history — from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Webb’s mirrors- enormous, nightmarishly complex confections of reflective panels- would have to be unfurled, successfully, in space- far from mission control, far from any NASA engineer’s clever fix.
A monitor in the NASA James Webb Space Telescope flight control room of the Space Telescope Science Institute shows the progress of the second primary mirror wing latching on the Webb observatory, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022, in Baltimore. When fully latched, the infrared observatory will have completed its unprecedented process of unfolding in space to prepare for science operations. Webb will study every phase of cosmic history — from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
When the James Webb Deep Space Telescope managed to unfold its mirrors in space, scientists, students and stargazers the world over rejoiced…and breathed a great sigh of relief.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope mission operations team celebrates, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022, at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, after confirming that the observatory’s final primary mirror wing successfully extended and locked into place. With Webb’s 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) primary mirror fully deployed, the infrared observatory has completed its unprecedented process of unfolding in space to prepare for science operations. The observatory will study every phase of cosmic history — from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
When the news trickled out that James Webb’s fantastical mirror had endured a tiny meteoroid hit, or a series of them, Webb watchers gasped in horror. Would the beloved project fail?
“The damage inflicted by the dust-sized micrometeoroid is producing a noticeable effect in the observatory’s data but is not expected to limit the mission’s overall performance,” wrote BBC Science Correspondent Jonathan Amos on June 9.
“Astronomers are due to release its first views of the cosmos on 12 July,” Amos reassured BBC readers. “The US space agency Nasa said these images would be no less stunning because of what’s just happened.”
“Micrometeoroid strikes are an unavoidable aspect of operating any spacecraft, which routinely sustain many impacts over the course of long and productive science missions in space,” posted NASA’s Thaddeus Cesari to the James Webb Space Telescope blog on June 8. “Between May 23 and 25, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope sustained an impact to one of its primary mirror segments. After initial assessments, the team found the telescope is still performing at a level that exceeds all mission requirements despite a marginally detectable effect in the data.”
“We always knew that Webb would have to weather the space environment, which includes harsh ultraviolet light and charged particles from the Sun, cosmic rays from exotic sources in the galaxy, and occasional strikes by micrometeoroids within our solar system,” said Paul Geithner, the technical deputy project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center located in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We designed and built Webb with performance margin — optical, thermal, electrical, mechanical — to ensure it can perform its ambitious science mission even after many years in space.”
And indeed, James Webb’s first images were as breathtaking as the world’s Webb watchers hoped.
The first images Webb sent back when it phoned home, right on schedule, exceeded the wildest expectations of NASA scientists and everyone else- save perhaps those who expected space aliens.
The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The smallest of these are small, distant, and faint points of light. The largest of these appear larger, closer, brighter, and more fully resolved with 8-point diffraction spikes. The upper portion of the image is blueish, and has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orangish cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The stars vary in color, the majority of which have a blue or orange hue. The cloud-like structure of the nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys — an appearance very similar to a mountain range. Three long diffraction spikes from the top right edge of the image suggest the presence of a large star just out of view. (Image Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)
A group of five galaxies that appear close to each other in the sky: two in the middle, one toward the top, one to the upper left, and one toward the bottom. Four of the five appear to be touching. One is somewhat separated. In the image, the galaxies are large relative to the hundreds of much smaller (more distant) galaxies in the background. All five galaxies have bright white cores. Each has a slightly different size, shape, structure, and coloring. Scattered across the image, in front of the galaxies are number of foreground stars with diffraction spikes: bright white points, each with eight bright lines radiating out from the center. (Image Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)
The image is split down the middle, showing two views of the Southern Ring Nebula. Both feature black backgrounds speckled with tiny bright stars and distant galaxies. Both show the planetary nebula as a misshapen oval that is slightly angled from top left to bottom right and takes up the majority of each image. At left, the near-infrared image shows a bright white star at the center with long diffraction spikes. Large, transparent teal and orange ovals, which are shells ejected by the unseen central star, surround it. At right, the mid-infrared image shows two stars at the center very close to one another. The one at left is red, the smaller one at right is light blue. The blue star has tiny triangles around it. A large transparent red oval surrounds the central stars. From that extend shells in a mix of colors, which are red to the left and right and teal to the top and bottom. Overall, the oval shape of the planetary nebula appears slightly smaller than the one seen at left. (Image Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)
A tremendous celebration ensued once the first stunning images started returning to earth like interstellar postcards and plenty of new James Webb fans were born. Suddenly, it seemed like every eye on earth was trained on the heavens, wondering what might be revealed next.
Rather than released by NASA officials, these images were complied using raw James Webb data mined by citizen-scientist Judy Schmidt.
Thanks to Schmidt’s intricate and painstaking work, Webb watchers are getting a preview of two jaw-dropping spiral galaxies.
Dust lanes of IC533. Processed in much the same way as NGC628. A visible / Hubble view of this galaxy is here: flic.kr/p/2nxgwuB. Red (screen layer mode): MIRI F2100W. Orange: MIRI F1130W. Cyan: MIRI F770W. Extra overall brightness in grayscale: MIRI F1000W. July 24, 2022. (Image Credit: Judy Schmidt)
Squeezing some color out of the various filters showing all the glowing dust in the center of NGC628. (Image Credit: Judy Schmidt)
A combination of NIRCam and MIRI filters to show continuum and emission line dust in NGC7496. A version combining this with HST data is here: flic.kr/p/2nyVKv5. JWST Filter Combination: Cyan: [mathematical operation] NIRCam F335M-(NIRCam F300M+NIRCam F360W). Orange: MIRI F770W. Luminosity (grayscale): MIRI F770W. (Image Credit: Judy Schmidt)
JWST data are overlaid on HST data with a Photoshop screen layer mode. HST Filter Combination: Red: WFC3/UVIS F814W. Green: WFC3/UVIS F555W. Blue: WFC3/UVIS F438W+F336W+F275W. The upper right corner of the HST data was filled with cloned data to get rid of a hard edge where HST data were missing. (Image Credit: Judy Schmidt)
“As I work through trying out different ways to combine the data, this method stood out as particularly pretty, even if it lacks immediate scientific clarity,” explained Schmidt of the above image. “The glowing strands and flocks of dust, which would normally be dark in visible light imagery, are instead bright and glowing with infrared light from JWST.”
While we wait to see what James Webb sends next, NASA fans, Judy Schmidt, and the world of Webb watchers will be creating original art and composite images inspired by the the great blue yonder.
