The images are not the official full-resolution images released in the style of the main releases yesterday, but were included in a NASA commissioning document to show that the NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera) can track moving targets. The composite shows a short-wavelength image of Jupiter on the left and a long-wavelength image on the right, revealing the kinds of dramatically different atmospheric conditions JWST can detect. Both images were taken with a 75 second exposure and show the gas giant’s moons Europa, Thebes and Metis. NASA notes that Europa’s shadow is also visible to the left of the Great Red Spot. Read more: Why are these images such a big deal? Image: The “cosmic rocks” of the Carina Nebula, as seen by JWST NASA yesterday released a complete set of images from the James Webb Space Telescope, showing what it says is the “deepest” and most detailed picture of the universe to date. A deep-field image of a distant galaxy cluster as it looked billions of years ago – from the early days of the universe – has been released for the first time by NASA along with the president of the United States. The second image was an analysis of the atmosphere of a giant planet called WASP-96b and is the first “spectral analysis” of an exoplanet’s atmosphere. It was an example of JWST using a technique called transmission spectroscopy to observe starlight filtering through planetary atmospheres. Because molecules in the atmosphere absorb specific wavelengths of light, what is filtered out will reveal the chemical compositions of those atmospheres and potentially indicate whether the planet is capable of hosting life. The third image, another in the infrared captured by NIRCam, showed the Southern Ring Nebula created by a dying star, nearly half a light-year across. The penultimate image showed a group of five galaxies known as the Stephano Quintet, although only four of them are truly interacting – one is just in the foreground. Many commentators have suggested that NASA saved the best for last with the beautiful image of the cosmic rocks of the Carina Nebula. Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency – NASA’s partner with the James Webb Space Telescope – said he was moved to tears. See the pictures: Stunning pictures show the universe ‘as we’ve never seen it before’ Image: The Southern Ring Nebula, as seen by JWST’s NIRCam The mission of the telescope A partnership of scientists and engineers was formed between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency – and for 20 years they worked to complete the £8.4 billion telescope. On Christmas Day 2021, Webb launched and reached its destination in solar orbit nearly a million miles from Earth a month later. Once there, the telescope underwent a months-long process to unfold all its components, including a sun shield the size of a tennis court, and align its mirrors and calibrate its instruments. The universe has been expanding for 13.8 billion years, meaning that the light from the first stars and galaxies has been “stretched” from shorter visible wavelengths to longer infrared. This is what allows Webb to see the universe in unprecedented new detail. These pictures are the first of millions the new telescope will produce during its 20-year life. Each high-resolution color image revealed Tuesday took weeks to render from raw telescope data. Watch parties for the release of the picture were held all over the world, including the US, Canada, Israel, the UK and Europe.
