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Monday, July 11
5:30 p.m. – White House briefing to preview imagery from the James Webb Space Telescope
Tuesday, July 12
9:45 a.m. (EDT) – Opening remarks: James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images and data
10:30 a.m. – First full-color images and data from the James Webb Space Telescope
12:30 p.m. – Media briefing: James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images and data
3 p.m. – Media interviews: James Webb Space Telescope's first full-color images and data
NASA's Webb Delivers Deepest Infrared Image of Universe Yet
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb's First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail.
Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – have appeared in Webb's view for the first time. This slice of the vast universe covers a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm's length by someone on the ground.
More images will be released after 10:30 AM EDT tomorrow, from these targets:
These listed targets below represent the first wave of full-color scientific images and spectra the observatory has gathered, and the official beginning of Webb's general science operations. They were selected by an international committee of representatives from NASA, ESA, CSA, and the Space Telescope Science Institute.
- Carina Nebula: The Carina Nebula is one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky, located approximately 7,600 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina. Nebulae are stellar nurseries where stars form. The Carina Nebula is home to many massive stars, several times larger than the Sun.
- WASP-96 b (spectrum): WASP-96 b is a giant planet outside our solar system, composed mainly of gas. The planet, located nearly 1,150 light-years from Earth, orbits its star every 3.4 days. It has about half the mass of Jupiter, and its discovery was announced in 2014.
- Southern Ring Nebula: The Southern Ring, or "Eight-Burst" nebula, is a planetary nebula – an expanding cloud of gas, surrounding a dying star. It is nearly half a light-year in diameter and is located approximately 2,000 light years away from Earth.
- Stephan's Quintet: About 290 million light-years away, Stephan's Quintet is located in the constellation Pegasus. It is notable for being the first compact galaxy group ever discovered in 1877. Four of the five galaxies within the quintet are locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters.
- SMACS 0723: Massive foreground galaxy clusters magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a deep field view into both the extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @12:05AM (6 children)
Is it just me, or...?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @12:34AM
perhaps jj abrams helped them to fake it?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @01:17AM (2 children)
Hexagonal segmented mirror. Lens flare is unavoidable, but it also helps them focus it [wikipedia.org]. The only downside is that there is no way to turn it off.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday July 12 2022, @02:59AM
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday July 12 2022, @08:56PM
Seems like that could be algorithmically removed, and should be pretty simple, considering the amazing things you can do in Photoshop, "deepfakes", etc.
(Score: 4, Informative) by FatPhil on Tuesday July 12 2022, @02:35PM (1 child)
You can't ever get rid of it, that's optics, that's quantum mechanics. The fact that you can see the ripples proves that. Compare it to narrowing the aperture on a normal camera, in order to increase the depth of focus in your image, and make things better - but ooops - you made it worse because you became diffraction limited! http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/phyopt/cirapp2.html#c2
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Tuesday July 12 2022, @02:53PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves