The James Webb Space Telescope has trained its sharp, infrared eyes on the ringed planet and produced this stunning, new image. An excerpt from the Webb blog published by NASA follows: This image was taken as part of Webb Guaranteed Time Observation program 1247. The program included several very deep exposures of Saturn, which were designed[…]
Full 6 waveband Composite Image of Stephan’s Quintet In the ERO release images of this group of galaxies by NASA, much to do was made about their interaction. In the NASA release, NIrCam (near IR) and MIRI (mid IR) data were included in the composite images. While it was briefly mentioned in the news release,[…]
On July 12th of this year, the world was gifted with 5 studies and a treasure trove of data and images, content released through NASA’s Early Release Observations (ERO) program for JWST (attribution at the foot of this page). The great thing about a public space agency: the fruits and products of the agency are[…]
The tiny red dot at the center of this image is our galaxy of interest, z13.1,13.1 billion light years distant. Heavy Element Nucleosynthesis, the process by which heavy elements are synthesized in the cores of high-mass stars, was ongoing in this galaxy less than 700 million years after the big bang. Note: this video is[…]
Note: This article is an addendum to James Webb Space Telescope Full Science Operations Begin As 5 ‘First Light’ Images Are Released (1 of 5). Some important discoveries and confirmations have been realized with the first public release of JWST data and imagery. We can unequivocally state that our evolutionary theories of the early universe[…]
In our presentation of the NASA-hosted event opening the James Webb Space Telescope to the world’s astronomical community, we discussed one of the five commissioning targets presented to the public. That choice to open this 5-article series was SMACS 0723, a distant galaxy cluster receding at 29% the speed of light. In this article, we’ll[…]
OMG, the sky is falling! In what appears to be another visceral, emotionally charged characterization, a thinly-veiled attempt at clickbait, another article has now appeared, describing the JWST micrometeoroid event of May 24 as an ‘uncorrectable‘ tragedy, a show-stopper, the proverbial final nail-in-the-coffin. Nothing could be further from the truth! The actual report, a peer-reviewed,[…]
Full resolution image (2799×2856) of the SMACS 0723 cluster of galaxies, 4.6 billion light years distant in the southern constellation Volans. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster is overflowing with detail and is described more fully below. Images and results from Webb’s observations are archived here with the first images[…]
Update: James Webb Space Telescope Full Science Operations Get Underway As 5 ‘First Light’ Images Are Released Update: James Webb Space Telescope Full Science Operations Get Underway As 5 ‘First Light’ Images Are Released The recently launched James Webb Space Telescope (December 25th, Christmas Day, 2021) has produced what should be the first of many thousands of[…]
The successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has placed the orbiting observatory on the path to become the premier space platform for the next decade and beyond! On Christmas Day, 2021 the world witnessed the launch of JWST, by all accounts a brilliant launch in its precision and timing! That launch put[…]
JWST Launch Following a 6-day delay and now (Dec 22) an additional day for adverse weather conditions on Dec 24, the James Webb Space Telescope, originally scheduled to launch on December 18, will finally launch on December 25 (Christmas Day) of this year. JWST is the next generation orbiting observatory that will push back the[…]
As pictured in this Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 21, in a brilliantly successful launch, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) was launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 into a highly elliptical, High Earth Orbit. Contrary to many news reports, TESS is not a telescope, nor does it have any telescopes onboard. It[…]
With the first topic of discussion posted, Astronomy for Change launches our new Community Forum and Discussion Board. The first topic of discussion is How Successful will TESS be? Jump right in and let us know what you think of NASA’s new mission of discovery and exploration or introduce a topic of your own.
UPDATE: On April 18th at 6:51 PM, EDT, SpaceX is set to launch the small counterpart and addition to the intrepid Kepler Space Telescope now operating with limited control propellant and hence, limited time during the newly designated K2 mission. Having its original mission cut short due to general failure of a second of the[…]
A team of astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, an orbiting platform that observes the universe exclusively in the InfraRed (heat) region of the spectrum, have discovered a group of Earth-size planets in orbit around the cool, low-mass red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1, three of which are within the star’s habitable zone! As mentioned in yesterday’s[…]
