Space is cool.
NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, the European Space Agency, and the Space Telescope Science Institute have published the sharpest, clearest colour photos of deep space ever snapped by the $10 billion USD (roughly $13 billion CAD) James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Seriously, even if you aren’t into space news, these photos are impressive.
Clouds are in the forecast for exoplanet WASP-96 b! ☁️
Webb spotted the unambiguous signature of water, indications of haze & evidence for clouds (once thought not to exist there)! This is the most detailed exoplanet spectrum to date: https://t.co/tlougFWg8B #UnfoldTheUniverse pic.twitter.com/ySe4Y9V0uP
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) July 12, 2022
The detailed images include a photo of a giant gas planet outside of our solar system, images of the Carina Nebula and even an updated snap of a classic photo of five tightly clustered galaxies.
There’s also a photo of a large gaseous exoplanet called ‘WASP-96b‘ that’s roughly 1,000 light-years away from earth. The planet is about the size of Jupiter, but with half the mass.
This side-by-side comparison shows the Southern Ring Nebula in near-infrared light (left) and mid-infrared light (right) from NASA’s Webb Telescope. The planetary nebula is approximately 2,500 light-years away.
Stephan’s Quintet is a group of five galaxies known for being featured in the holiday movie ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’
NASA says that this image, called Webb’s First Deep Field’ shows a galaxy cluster ‘SMACS 0723’ in significant detail.
In a statement, Gregory Robinson, the director of the James Webb Space Telescope program, said that “you ain’t seen nothing yet” regarding the images, perhaps indicating that more photos will be published shortly.
Image credit: NASA
