Stars and galaxies twinkle in the images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. The American space agency NASA is proud of their photos. President Joe Biden was in attendance at the White House for the release, turning the event into a political issue. He reminds us that “America can do great things”.
But what do the photos really mean? “The light you see in one of these little spots has been traveling for 13 billion years,” explains the NASA chief. Viennese physicist Werner Gruber puts it more concretely: “These images provide information about the phase shortly after the Big Bang. We have never been so close to that time. Some galaxies travel so fast that you can only see them with infrared.”
But first we have to analyze the data: “In the first place, these recordings are a kind of test image to see what is possible with the new device. That’s why you first observe objects that we already know and compare the new images with the old ones,” says Viennese astronomer Ruth Grützbauch.
The total cost of the project is estimated at ten billion euros. “It’s money well invested in unlocking the secrets of the universe or discovering signs of life on other planets.” This way we can track the formation of galaxies and see what happens to them over the course of their lives, Grützbauch says.
Water spotted on distant gas giant
On Tuesday, NASA released more images and data from “James Webb”: for example, the spectrum of the gas giant Wasp-96 b. Among other things, the telescope found clear signs of water on the planet outside our solar system. There is evidence of clouds and fog in the atmosphere, NASA said. This observation is the most accurate of its kind to date and demonstrates the telescope’s unprecedented ability to study atmospheres hundreds of light-years away.
The first image — “the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the universe recorded to date” — was presented Tuesday evening by NASA along with US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Very distant galaxies can be seen on it.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
