{"id":17369,"date":"2022-07-12T01:45:54","date_gmt":"2022-07-11T17:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/biden-unveils-first-image-from-webb-space-telescope-expanding-the-space-frontier\/"},"modified":"2022-07-12T01:45:54","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T17:45:54","slug":"biden-unveils-first-image-from-webb-space-telescope-expanding-the-space-frontier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/biden-unveils-first-image-from-webb-space-telescope-expanding-the-space-frontier\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden unveils first image from Webb Space Telescope, expanding the space frontier"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"643\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/220711-webb-630x643.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-709397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/220711-webb-630x643.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/220711-webb-768x783.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/220711-webb.jpg 1041w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption>The first full-color image from the James Webb Space Telescope reveals faraway galaxies. Click on the image for a larger view. (NASA \/ ESA \/ CSA \/ STScI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>President Joe Biden got in on today\u2019s celebration of the first full-color image from NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope, a $10 billion observatory that\u2019s been decades in the making. But the star of the show was the image itself, billed as the deepest and sharpest infrared view of the universe to date.<\/p>\n<p>The picture shows a patch of sky where the gravitational effect of a massive galaxy cluster in the foreground, known as SMACS 0723, focuses the light rays emanating from far more distant galaxies in the background.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: revert;\">\u201cThis telescope embodies how America leads the world, not by the example of our power, but by the power of our example,\u201d Biden said during today\u2019s White House ceremony. \u201cThese images are going to remind the world that America can do big things, and remind the American people \u2014 especially our children \u2014 that there\u2019s nothing beyond our capacity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>NASA Administrator Bill Nelson noted that the light from some of the galaxies shown in Webb\u2019s First Deep Field \u201chas been traveling for over 13 billion years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s just the start: Astronomers say future images from the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, are likely to exceed the distance record set today, and expand other space frontiers as well.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"James Webb Space Telescope first full color image unveiled by President Biden\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CamGTM0b2-U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe level of detail is dazzling!\u201d University of Washington astronomer Emily Levesque told GeekWire in an email. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to stare at the big colorful galaxy arcs that dominate the image, but I actually like looking for the tiniest and reddest little smudges lurking in the deep background. Those are the galaxies so dim and distant that we couldn\u2019t even <em>see<\/em> them&nbsp;with Hubble, and those are what demonstrate the real power of JWST; there\u2019s going to be so much we\u2019ve never seen before!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>UPDATE: Feast your eyes on JWST\u2019s celestial smorgasbord<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Still more images are due to be unveiled at 7:30 a.m. PT Tuesday. Those pictures will feature well-known celestial targets \u2014 the Carina Nebula, the Southern Ring Nebula, and a galaxy cluster known as Stephan\u2019s Quintet. NASA will also release the spectral fingerprint of WASP-96 b, a Jupiter-like planet in a star system that\u2019s nearly 1,150 light-years from Earth.<\/p>\n<p>Future observations could reveal the composition of atmospheres around alien planets that are more like Earth than WASP-96 b \u2014 planets like those in the TRAPPIST-1 system, which some researchers say might be hospitable for life. A team of astronomers from the University of Washington determined that JWST could spot signs of carbon dioxide or oxygen in the atmospheres of TRAPPIST-1 planets, a mere 39 light-years away.<\/p>\n<p>The Webb Space Telescope is considered an heir to the Hubble Space Telescope, which is nearing retirement after more than 30 years of operation. Webb\u2019s 21-foot-wide, segmented mirror has seven times the light-gathering capacity of Hubble\u2019s mirror. Just as significantly, JWST is optimized to observe celestial objects in infrared wavelengths, rather than the wide sweep of infrared-to-ultraviolet wavelengths covered by Hubble.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1546639073950834688&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2022%2Fbiden-unveils-first-image-from-webb-space-telescope-expanding-the-deep-space-frontier%2F&amp;sessionId=2220096a2aca5d31eb14375ef021804cb2c95879&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782799745860975027=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Not sure I&#8217;ve seen this yet: I made a comparison of the old #Hubble composite image of SMACS 0723 (B&amp;W) fading to the new #JWST image!<\/p>\n<p>Actually surprising how similar they are! The real difference comes from the exquisite level of detail you can now see in every little galaxy. pic.twitter.com\/alAy1M3Vjq<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Prof. Emily Levesque \ud83e\udd13\u2728\ud83d\udd2d\ud83d\udcda (@emsque) July 11, 2022<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>That focus on the infrared means JWST is well-suited for probing the redshifted edges of the observable universe, as well as infant planets that are wrapped inside clouds of dust. It also means pictures from the telescope will typically be processed to bring out colors not visible to the naked eye.<\/p>\n<p>The 7-ton space telescope was launched atop a European Ariane 5 rocket last Christmas Day, and went through a months-long commissioning process at a gravitational balance point a million miles from Earth. <\/p>\n<p>In contrast with Hubble\u2019s troubled start in 1990, Webb\u2019s deployment was glitch-free \u2014 but the mission has faced more than the usual share of controversy over the years. JWST, which started out with a price tag of $3.5 billion and a projected launch date of 2013, went through repeated rounds of cost overruns and scheduling delays.<\/p>\n<p>Some scientists are upset that JWST is named after a former NASA administrator who headed the agency during a time of government discrimination against gay and lesbian employees, and they\u2019ve pressed NASA to rename the telescope.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d love to be unreservedly stoked about the mission,\u201d Lucianne Walkowicz, an astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, said in a tweet. \u201cBut at this point NASA digging its heels in, combined with watching my fellow scientists and science communicators deciding they can just turn off \u2026 the part of their brain that\u2019s bothered, is just too much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another leading critic of the telescope\u2019s name \u2014 Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, an astrophysicist at the University of New Hampshire who was formerly a research associate at the University of Washington \u2014 said she was nevertheless looking forward to the fruits of the mission.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m so excited to see what the Just Wonderful Space Telescope will teach us,\u201d Prescod-Weinstein wrote in a tweet.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"First Images From the James Webb Space Telescope (Official NASA Broadcast)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nmMRMIE3MGw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p><em>NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope and its first images will be featured on PBS on Wednesday in a NOVA documentary titled \u201cUltimate Space Telescope.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first full-color image from the James Webb Space Telescope reveals faraway galaxies. Click on the image for a larger view. (NASA \/ ESA \/ CSA \/ STScI) President Joe Biden got in on today\u2019s celebration of the first full-color image from NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope, a $10 billion observatory that\u2019s been decades in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1661,1560,190],"class_list":["post-17369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-astronomy","tag-james-webb-space-telescope","tag-nasa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17369"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}