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Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope captures awe-inspiring images

July 11, 2023
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Pillars of creation
Webb’s first full-colour images were released on July 12, 2022, marking the beginning of the observatory’s scientific mission (Picture: Nasa)

It’s been one year since Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope started beaming incredible images from the depths of the universe back to Earth.

Since then, Webb has discovered some of the earliest galaxies ever observed, delivered the most detailed view of the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system, and captured new views of planets within our solar system.

The £8.4 billion instrument, which is Nasa’s largest and most powerful, is also the most complex space telescope ever built.

Launched on Christmas Day in 2021, the telescope reached its final destination in space, the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, in January 2022.

Since then, it has been observing the universe in infrared light, revealing new details about everything from the earliest galaxies to exoplanets.

Webb’s first full-colour images were released July 12, 2022, marking the beginning of the observatory’s science mission.

The much-awaited debut picture from Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope was unveiled by Joe Biden and Nasa chief Bill Nelson last year.

The image showed, in incredible detail, a 4.6 billion-year-old galaxy cluster called SMACS 0723 for the first time.

These are just a few of the many amazing discoveries that have been made by JWST in its first year.


JWST debut image
The first image taken by JWST showed a galaxy cluster known as SMACS 0723. The cluster’s gravity is bending the light from the galaxies behind it, creating a magnified and distorted view. This image is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe ever taken (Picture: Nasa)

Carina nebula
This image is of the Carina Nebula, a stellar nursery where new stars are being born. The image reveals previously unseen details of the nebula, including new stars and protostars (Picture: Nasa)

Stephan's Quintet
The Stephan’s Quintet image is a mosaic of images taken by the JWST of a group of five galaxies located about 290 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus (Picture: Nasa)

Cassiopeia
This image of Cassiopeia A, a supernova remnant located about 11,000 light-years from Earth, spans approximately 10 light-years and uses data from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to reveal Cas A in a new light (Picture: Nasa)

Uranus
This zoomed-in image of Uranus reveals stunning views of the planet’s rings (Picture: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)

Wolf-Rayet 124
The luminous, hot star Wolf-Rayet 124 (WR 124) is prominent at the centre of the James Webb Space Telescope’s composite image combining near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths of light (Picture: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team)

Galaxy NGC 1433
This image taken shows a galaxy called NGC 1433 that lies over 46 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Horologium. At the centre of the galaxy, a tight, bright core featuring a unique double ring structure shines in exquisite detail thanks to Webb’s extreme resolution. In this case, that ‘double ring’ is actually tightly wrapped spiral arms that wind into an oval shape along the galaxy’s bar (Picture: Nasa)

NGC 346 star cluster
NGC 346, shown here in this image from JWST is a dynamic star cluster that lies within a nebula 200,000 light years away. Webb reveals the presence of many more building blocks than previously expected, not only for stars, but also planets, in the form of clouds packed with dust and hydrogen (Picture: Nasa)

Pillars of creation
By combining images of the iconic Pillars of Creation from two cameras aboard JWST, the universe has been framed in its infrared glory. Webb’s near-infrared image was fused with its mid-infrared image, setting this star-forming region ablaze with new details (Picture: Nasa)


MORE : Nasa’s James Webb telescope identifies massive galaxy 25,000,000 light-years away


MORE : Nasa’s James Webb telescope finds Earth-like exoplanet has no atmosphere





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