Since December 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has unlocked various secrets of our universe. From providing newer images of galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to enlightening experts on supernova remnants and peering into the early universe, the spacecraft has already discovered so much.
Below are the latest and greatest images that NASA has released from the JWST.
The Latest James Webb Telescope Image: April 3, 2024
The James Webb Space Telescope captured a new image of Messier 82 (M82), also known as the Cigar galaxy. The M82’s center is fittingly a star nursery that forms hot balls of gas 10 times faster than the Milky Way galaxy. A neighboring galaxy’s gravitational pull, M81, is thought to be the reason behind M82’s high rates of star formation.
The Vibrant Starburst Galaxy M82’s Center
As part of a study with the University of Maryland, College Park, the newest image is a closer look at the galaxy’s active star formation center. M82 is found 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.
“Both NASA’s Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes have observed this target. With Webb’s size and resolution, we can look at this star-forming galaxy and see all of this beautiful, new detail,” said Alberto Bolatto, an astrophysicist at the University of Maryland, College Park, in a press release.
Each newborn star chisels the galaxy’s surrounding dust and gas, but it comes at a price. Eventually, the galaxy will ‘starve’ itself from the surrounding gas and run out of the material needed to birth new stars. The star formation is suspected to stop in several tens of millions of years.
With JWST’s NIRCam, the research team could see through the galaxy’s dusty gaseous filaments. Details like the dark brown dust strips would have otherwise been shrouded without the JWST’s advanced capabilities. The red web-like structures seen surrounding the galaxy were formed by stellar wind from the galaxy’s center.
With JWST, the team could further understand how the galactic wind (which was coming from budding stars) interacts and sculpts its environment.
“Webb’s observation of M82, a target closer to us, is a reminder that the telescope excels at studying galaxies at all distances,” said Bolatto in a statement. “In addition to looking at young, high-redshift galaxies, we can look at targets closer to home to gather insight into the processes that are happening here – events that also occurred in the early universe.”
Read More: 19 Stunning Galaxy Images from the James Webb Space Telescope
13 Other Mesmerizing James Webb Telescope Images
Here are some of the first images from the JWST that have kept us captivated.
1. First Released Image
JWST's first deep field image captured the distortion of various galaxies. Some galaxies appear smudged because of gravitational lensing.
2. NGC 7469's Ring and Diffraction Spikes
The red diffraction spikes coming from the middle of the galaxy are caused by the galaxy's active galactic nucleus (AGN). The AGN emits light from the dust and gas that is pulled into the center's black hole.
3. Merging Galaxies: II ZW 96
This galaxy lies 500 million light-years from Earth. The galaxies are in the process of merging and is the reason for their distorted shapes.
4. The Cosmic Hourglass of a New Protostar
JWST can see in infrared and is why we can see the billowing hour-glass shape of this young protostar. Eventually, this protostar will become a main sequence star after it gathers enough mass to spark the hydrogen fusion process.
5. The Tarantula Nebula
The middle of the the Tarantula nebula is carved out from the radiation emitted from the group of young blue massive stars seen in the center.
6. Auroras on Jupiter
This fantastic image was processed by citizen scientist, Judy Schmidt.
7. Supernova remnant Cassiopeia A
This supernova remnant is one of the most studied in all of the galaxies. JWST's new image gives us a closer look at the details of the remnant's expanding shell of dust and gas.
8. The Ring Nebula
The Ring nebula is a type of planetary nebula located 2,500 light-years away from Earth.
9. Saturn's Glowing Rings and Moons
The image is dazzling, but was originally intended to see if JWST could show faint moons and rings around Saturn. If any new moons show up, it can help researchers get a clearer picture of Saturn's past.
10. Orion Bar in the Orion Nebula
The Orion Bar is about 1,300 light years away from Earth. JWST is studying this part of the nebula to see how massive stars affect their environments.
11. Wolf-Raylet star WR 124
This massive star is located 15,000 light years away from Earth in the Sagitta constellation. Wolf-Rayet stars are some of the most vibrant and biggest, detectable stars. These stars only stay in this form for a brief moment before they go supernova.
12. The Cartwheel Galaxy
The Cartwheel galaxy obtained its wagon wheel shape from a high-speed crash between a big spiral galaxy and a smaller galaxy not picture in the image. It is located 500 million light years from Earth.
13. JWST Pillars of Creation
The Pillars of Creation are made of cold hydrogen gas and dust. This section is only a small part of the Eagle Nebula. It's located about 6,500 light years from Earth.
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
NASA. James Webb Telescope.
Elizabeth Gamillo is a staff writer for Discover and Astronomy. She has written for Science magazine as their 2018 AAAS Diverse Voices in Science Journalism Intern and was a daily contributor for Smithsonian. She is a graduate student in MIT's Graduate Program in Science Writing.
