Here they are: the first five color photos from the James Webb telescope. Hubble’s successor does not disappoint. The images, which allow you to ‘look back in time 13 billion years’, are impressive.

On Christmas Day last year, NASA, together with the European and Canadian Space Agency (ESA and CSA), launched the James Webb Space Telescope, which can capture the “farthest and sharpest infrared images of the early universe.” James Webb not only produces many times sharper photos than its predecessor Hubble, but also does so much faster.

Revolutionary

“The James Webb telescope is going to give us so many answers. Even answers to questions we don’t even know yet,” Günther Hasing, ESA’s science director, enthuses during the unveiling of the photos. Josef Aschbacher, Director General of ESA adds: “The development of the James Webb telescope is more than just science. Above all, it is a fantastic collaboration between international space organizations.”

“The new James Webb telescope is revolutionary, a huge leap forward,” said NASA CEO Bill Nelson. “We’re going to see things I never thought possible. Infrared technology allows us to look straight through dust clouds to galaxies and black holes. The universe is 13.8 billion years old. We can now look 13.5 billion years back in time. All this time, this light has traveled through the universe at 300,000 kilometers per hour and now falls on our new telescope. Unbelievable, but true.”

Dutch touch

The festive unveiling of the photos also has a Dutch touch. Professor of Molecular Astrophysics Ewine van Dishoeck (Leiden Observatory, NOVA) explains during a press conference that NOVA (the Dutch Research School for Astronomy) has contributed to the hardware of the MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). This is a camera and spectrograph that observes medium to long infrared radiation. In particular, MIRI perceives light of longer wavelengths. “It was an exciting moment whether MIRI would get cold. Otherwise we would only be able to measure noise,” says Van Dishoeck. “That we succeeded was a huge milestone for us.” NOVA was responsible for the main optics of the MIRI spectrometer. TNO, among others, also cooperated.

A grain of sand

With the help of MIRI, the first photos were created, of which US President Joe Biden already unveiled the first yesterday. “This image encompasses a part of the universe the size of a grain of sand at arm’s length. It’s a tiny sliver of the vast universe,” said NASA’s Bill Nelson. “This mission was made possible by human ingenuity.” Audiences around the world were impressed by the image of that distant cluster of galaxies.

Science with the naked eye

But are such photos only beautiful for the public or do astronomers really benefit from them? The scientists present at the press meeting state that these photos are also of great value to science. “Before you can take a spectrum, you first have to find it. Those images are needed for that,” says Paul van der Werf, professor of Extragalactic Astrophysics at the Leiden University Observatory. “You have to search an area in the sky, those images are absolutely necessary for that. They should be as sensitive and large as possible. The fact that it is a nice picture is a nice bonus, but that is of course not why we do it. There are obvious scientific reasons, especially with deep fields (deep fields† You have to have the context. You can’t just focus your spectrum on one point and know what’s going on.” Spectra are (electromagnetic) waves, which are picked up by the telescope, which converts them back into image. Van Dishoeck adds: “It is a multi-color image. Then you can do science directly with your eye. If you take a picture in different colors it already gives a lot of information.”

The pictures

But what matters today is, of course, the photos themselves. “The five photos are the result of a week of scanning by the Webb Space Telescope. In a week we will have twice as many data and photos. This goes on all year round,” he says with joy.

SMACS 0723

We already wrote about the first photo, from SMACS 0723, this morning. The image shows a cluster of galaxies, as it looked 4.6 billion years ago. The total mass of everything in this cluster causes the light to bend like a magnifying glass, magnifying light from much more distant, fainter galaxies. The image was taken in 12.5 hours by NIRCam, James Webb’s camera. The galaxies in the photo emit light that is in some cases 13 billion years old. This makes them the oldest objects ever recorded.

Photo: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

The Carina Nebula

Below is a brand-new image of the Carina Nebula, located 7,600 light-years from Earth. NGC3372, as the nebula is officially called, contains two of the galaxy’s most massive and brightest stars.

The Webb Telescope shows the Carina Nebula like never before. Many stars never seen before are now in focus. We see young stars emitting clouds of gas. There is a lot of gas and dust to be seen, where new stars are being formed. Every speck in the picture is a star, just like our sun. Hubble has already taken beautiful pictures of the Carina Nebula, but the Webb makes it even more detailed and beautiful.

Photo: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

WASP-96b

James Webb also made a spectrum of exoplanet WASP-96b. This planet is located 1150 light-years from Earth and orbits its parent star in just under 3.5 days. What is special is that the atmosphere of the exoplanet is cloud-free. The exoplanet is about the size of Jupiter and very hot. Spectrum analysis of this planet makes it clear that a lot of water is present in the form of water vapor.

Exoplanet WASP 96b, Photo: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

NGC 3132

At 2000 light-years from Earth, we find a planetary nebula, also known as Eight-burst Nebula. The nebula (a growing cloud of gas around a dying star) is currently expanding at 9 miles per second. Webb provides astronomers with a wealth of new information about the composition of planetary nebulae such as NGC 3132. What kind of molecules is this gigantic gas cloud made up of, for example?

photo: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

Quintet by Stephan

This is a group of galaxies in the constellation Pegasus. The closest is NGC 7320C 39 million light-years away. The other four galaxies are much further away, 290 million light-years from Earth. There is an active black hole hidden in this photo. The molecular substances flying around nearby can be identified by spectrum analysis from the Webb telescope.

Photo: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI