A colorful seascape of glowing gas and dust that is the chaotic cradle of newborn solar systems. A complex bubble ejected into space by a dying star. A slow-motion pile of galaxies revealing the hidden architecture of disruption. A cosmic magnifying glass that uses a massive concentration of matter to probe the limits of the visible universe. And a wavy series of data points bearing the signature of water vapor in the atmosphere of a distant world. With one spectacular view after another, the recently commissioned James Webb Space Telescope has marked an epochal change in astronomers’ ability to observe and understand our universe. First and foremost, this week’s release of Webb’s first color images confirms the quintessence of its ability to perceive targets that are farther and fainter than any telescope has seen before. But they also show that it is a versatile discovery engine that can be applied to a wide range of cosmic mysteries. “We are turning the page on many, many new chapters in astrophysics. Everything will change completely,” said René Doyon, professor of astronomy at the University of Montreal and principal investigator of the Canadian Webb science group. The Decibel: How the James Webb Space Telescope will take us back in time Canada’s role in developing and building one of Webb’s four science instruments will give the country’s scientists a guaranteed share of time at the telescope. The European Space Agency is also a partner. But NASA is the main driver and payer of the $10 billion project, and it was the US space agency that led Webb’s public debut, more than six months after the new telescope was launched. The events began on Monday afternoon with the ceremonial unveiling of a first image by US President Joe Biden.

Galaxies far away and very old

The first photograph of a huge cluster of distant galaxies bending the light of objects in the distance was a quintessential demonstration of Webb’s ability to perceive targets that are farther away and fainter than any telescope has seen before. The photo shows the distant galaxy cluster SMACS J0723.3-7327, a cosmic magnifying glass about five billion light-years away that distorts and enhances the view of more distant galaxies at the outer edges of the visible universe. Deep-field composite images of the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, from the Mid-Infrared (left) and Near-Infrared instruments on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.NASA/Reuters The unveiling continued on Tuesday morning with four additional releases. In addition to their visual appeal, the five celestial objects selected for Webb’s initial round of observations demonstrate the full range of the telescope’s capabilities, including contributions from each of its science instruments operating in different bandwidths. All are in the infrared part of the spectrum, which the human eye cannot see, but is ideal for studying objects in the distant universe and nearby phenomena, such as the birth of new stars, that are usually hidden behind curtains of interstellar dust. .

The Carina Nebula

A vast star-forming region in our galaxy in our Milky Way galaxy located 7,500 light-years away. The “Cosmic Rocks” of the Carina Nebula. The image is divided horizontally by a wavy line between a nebula forming a nebula along the lower part and a relatively clear upper part. Dotted across both sections is a star field, showing countless stars of many sizes.NASA/Reuters A landscape of mountains and valleys dotted with twinkling stars that is actually the edge of a nearby, young star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. This image reveals previously unseen regions of star birth for the first time by combining information recorded by the Near-Infrared Camera and the Mid-Infrared Instrument. HANDOUT/AFP/Getty Images

The Southern Ring Nebula

A bright shell of gas 2,000 light-years from Earth ejected from a dying star and etched in a spirograph-like pattern by an orbiting companion. The Southern Ring Nebula in near-infrared light, left, and mid-infrared light, right. In the near-infrared camera image, the white dwarf appears to the lower left of the bright, central star, partially obscured by a diffraction spike. The same star appears – but brighter, larger and redder – in the instrument’s mid-infrared image. This white dwarf is covered in thick layers of dust, making it appear larger.NASA/Reuters

Stephan’s Quintet

An iconic group of five galaxies, four of which are in a tangle of complex gravitational interactions unfolding 290 million light-years away. A composite of near- and mid-infrared data shows a group of five galaxies that appear close together in the sky: two in the middle, one up, one up left, and one down. NASA/Reuters The results – met with superlatives from across the astronomical community – show that the telescope’s science mission is already underway, with a series of data expected to begin rolling out to researchers on Thursday. “The world’s deepest space exploration vehicle is open for business — all aboard,” Eric Smith, chief scientist for NASA’s astrophysics division, said during a news briefing Tuesday at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. . Indeed, so great is the quality and quantity of information evident in Webb’s early images that the landmark has historical significance as part of a larger saga of scientific development. It’s been 412 years since Galileo turned a small tube with glass lenses into the night sky and showed that there is more to the heavens – so much more – than the eye alone can perceive. Since then, the tabletop fixture has given way to huge light pipes reaching over the rooftops to catch the starry fixture. In Greenwich, Paris and beyond, new observatory temples were built for professional sky watchers who were no longer concerned with casting horoscopes but with discerning the great mechanism of creation. From the mountaintop towns the telescope was hauled up, by mule team and flatbed truck. It sprung from the forested slopes of California to the heights of Hawaii and the Andes. It then left Earth entirely, rocketing into orbit to become a celestial object in its own right, even as it carried humanity’s gaze billions of light years farther into space. Now, a new rung has been added to the telescope’s remarkable rise, introduced by an instrument on Webb that can penetrate the farthest reaches of the observable universe and answer some of the most fundamental questions ever asked about the universe — including how the first stars and galaxies were formed and whether there is life beyond Earth. That last question was prompted by the only release this week that didn’t include an image.

The spectrum of WASP-96b

It is a spectrum resulting from the analysis of light filtered through a planet’s atmosphere as it crossed in front of the orbiting star. The result confirms the presence of water molecules in the atmosphere. A light curve from Webb’s Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph shows the change in the brightness of the light from the WASP-96 star system over time as the planet passes by the star. A transit occurs when an orbiting planet moves between the star and the telescope, blocking some of the light from the star.NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Handout The planet, known as WASP-96 b, is a gas giant about half the mass of Jupiter, but much hotter due to its close proximity to the star. This makes it an extremely unlikely place to host life, but the same technique can now be applied to a wide range of planets and could potentially find indirect evidence for it, if any. “We’re going to look for ozone, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and all these different signatures that tell us interesting things about what could be producing them on the planet — whether it’s volcanic, whether it’s a chemical reaction, a geophysical reaction or maybe for a biological reaction,” said Nathalie Ouellette, an astrophysicist at the University of Montreal’s Institute for Exoplanet Research. A transmission spectrum taken from a single observation using Webb’s Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrometer reveals the atmospheric characteristics of the hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-96 b.NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI Dr. Ouellette added that Webb’s famous predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, was launched years before large numbers of planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy were detected, so it was never optimized for observing them. Webb is a different story, and exoplanets are an area where Canadian researchers aim to make their mark, with the help of material Canada has provided. Sarah Gallagher, a professor of astronomy at Western University in London and a science adviser to the Canadian Space Agency, said she was particularly impressed by Webb’s view of the Stephan Quintet, which she has studied. The galaxies were imaged by two Webb instruments—one showing a view that’s relatively similar to what the eye would see, the other showing how they appear when the dust is cleared and shock waves and other structures resulting from the galaxies’ motions are obvious. “I think what’s so exciting is that we can already see unexpected things,” said Dr. Gallagher. Overall, astronomers have widely commented on two of the features of the Webb images that make them different from those produced by Hubble. The first is the disorienting effect of viewing the universe in infrared light, but with a sharpness and level of detail previously known only in optical photographs. The second is a…