Stop Looking At It On Twitter And Download Webb’s Iconic ‘Cosmic Cliffs’ Image In 123 Megapixel Resolution Now
The Carina Nebula, as captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
Did you see the “Cosmic Cliffs” yet? Published on July 12, the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) debut set of images were astounding, but for me one image really stood out.
Captured in infrared light by the $10 billion space telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), this close-up of an area of the Carina Nebula shows a never-seen-before star nursery.
It’s 7,600 light-years distant in the Carina–Sagittarius spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy. It’s 300 light-years across!
Webb’s image shows pillars of gas that look like they’ve been sculpted, jets and a weird-looking arch.
Now it’s being made available in high resolution for anyone to download, keep—and zoom in on.
It’s available to download on the Webb telescope’s dedicated website in three different versions; 14,575 x x8,441 pixels (123 megapixels!) as a TIFF and as a PNG file, and as a 1,000 x 1,158 pixel (1.1 megapixels) as a PNG file.
The former two are ideal for using as a computer’s desktop wallpaper while the third, smaller version is perfect for a smartphone or tablet.
Image of the Carina Nebula (NGC 3324) captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), with compass … [+]
What is the Carina Nebula?
The “Cosmic Cliffs” image is part of the Carina Nebula, one of the largest nebulae in the night sky. It’s about 500 times larger than the better known Orion Nebula, which hangs close to the stars of Orion’s Belt.
A cloud of gas and dust pillars where stars are being born, the Carina Nebula is also known as the “Great Nebula” and NGC 3372. From the southern hemisphere it’s visible to the naked eye.
Within the Carina Nebula is Eta Carinae, a binary star system whose largest Sun had a super-bright “Great Eruption” in 1843. It still fluctuates in brightness—just like Betelgeuse in Orion. This hypergiant star could be the next star in the Milky Way to “go supernova” and explode.
What does the ‘Cosmic Cliffs’ image show?
Looking like the edge of a cliff or a mountain range in space, the lower half of the spectacular image shows a massive cloud of orangey gas and dust—the edge of the nebula! Within it are ridges, peaks and valleys. Above is a blueish area—a star-field—though you can also see wispy tendrils of light-blueish ionized gas and dust spewing up into it. Throughout the image you can also see stars—some large, some small, some close, some distant—which vary in colour from blue to orange. You can even see numerous background galaxies.
What is NIRCam?
NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera) is one of four science instruments on board Webb. Responsible for doing a lot of the cutting-edge science, NIRCam can detect infrared light from the earliest stars and galaxies.
It also has a coronagraph so it can block a star’s light, which helps in the search for planets orbiting nearby stars.
Captured in infrared light by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), … [+]
Webb’s lesser-known ‘Cosmic Cliffs’ image
Webb’s MIRI instrument—a wide-field camera—also imaged the Carina Nebula and produced this lesser-seen image (above). A combined image using data from both NIRCam and MIRI, it reveals previously invisible areas of star birth.
A zoomed-in version that focuses on the central part of what you can see in NIRCam’s image, MIRI’s image reveals structures embedded in the dust and reveals the stellar sources of massive jets and outflows. It captures hydrocarbons and other chemical compounds on the surface of the ridges, making them glow and giving the object a more jagged appearance.
MIRI’s “Cosmic Cliffs” image is also available to download from the Webb-site albeit in a slightly lower resolution. It’s provided in 11,264 x 3,904 pixels (44 megapixels) as a TIFF and as a PNG file, and as a 2,000 x 693 pixels (1.3 megapixels) as a PNG file.
A feature that looks like a comet with NIRCam (left) is revealed with MIRI (right) to be one cone of … [+]
How the two images compare
There some notable differences. For example, a feature that looks like a comet in the center-left image taken by NIRCam (above, left) is revealed with MIRI (above, right) to be one cone of an outflow from a dust-enshrouded, newborn star.
Composite image of the Carina Nebula (NGC 3324) captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and … [+]
What is MIRI?
MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) is a camera and a spectrograph that sees light in the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. It’s MIRI that will likely give us most of the incredible better-than-Hubble wide-field astrophotography images.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
