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James Webb space telescope

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The JWST is already delivering on its promise to transform cosmology

Almost a year after its first images were released, the James Webb Space Telescope is living up to the hype, and its price tag, by revolutionising our understanding of the universe

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What looks much like craggy mountains on a moonlit evening is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on NASA???s James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals previously obscured areas of star birth. Called the Cosmic Cliffs, the region is actually the edge of a gigantic, gaseous cavity within NGC 3324, roughly 7,600 light-years away. The cavernous area has been carved from the nebula by the intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from extremely massive, hot, young stars located in the center of the bubble, above the area shown in this image. The high-energy radiation from these stars is sculpting the nebula???s wall by slowly eroding it away. NIRCam ??? with its crisp resolution and unparalleled sensitivity ??? unveils hundreds of previously hidden stars, and even numerous background galaxies. Several prominent features in this image are described below. ??? The ???steam??? that appears to rise from the celestial ???mountains??? is actually hot, ionized gas and hot dust streaming away from the nebula due to intense, ultraviolet radiation. ??? Dramatic pillars rise above the glowing wall of gas, resisting the blistering ultraviolet radiation from the young stars. ??? Bubbles and cavities are being blown by the intense radiation and stellar winds of newborn stars. ??? Protostellar jets and outflows, which appear in gold, shoot from dust-enshrouded, nascent stars. ??? A ???blow-out??? erupts at the top-center of the ridge, spewing gas and dust into the interstellar medium. ??? An unusual ???arch??? appears, looking like a bent-over cylinder. This period of very early star formation is difficult to capture because, for an individual star, it lasts only about 50,000 to 100,000 years ??? but Webb???s extreme sensitivity and exquisite spatial resolution have chronicled this rare event. Located roughly 7,600 light-years away, NGC 3324 was first cat

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What the huge young galaxies seen by JWST tell us about the universe

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What the huge young galaxies seen by JWST tell us about the universe

Space

JWST has spotted an enormous plume of water coming out of Enceladus

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JWST has spotted a water vapor plume shooting out from the southern pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus
Seven galaxies highlighted here in five boxes are part of the most distant galaxy cluster ever found

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JWST has spotted the most distant galaxy cluster ever seen

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Supermassive black hole

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JWST has spotted the earliest black hole ever seen in the universe

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Trappist-1 is a red-dwarf star, the most common variety, located some 40 light-years away in Aquarius. In 2015, astronomers discovered that Trappist-1 was host to three earth-sized planets. Then it came under the spotlight again in 2017 when NASA scientists found an additional four planets, taking the total up to seven. This is the most terrestrial planets that have ever been found to orbit a single star, including our own Solar System. Trappist-1 is only fractionally larger than Jupiter in diameter. This image shows the star and six of the planets as they would appear from the vantage point of the fifth outermost planet, Trappist-1f. All of the planets and the Sun are to scale. One of the worlds is seen transiting in front of the star.

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JWST finds the planet TRAPPIST-1b may not have an atmosphere

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JWST took a stunning picture of a star that’s about to go supernova

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JWST took a stunning picture of a star that’s about to go supernova

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JWST image of crowded field of galaxies

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Huge young galaxies seen by JWST may upend our models of the universe

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This image by NASA?s James Webb Space Telescope?s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) features the central region of the Chamaeleon I dark molecular cloud, which resides 630 light years away. The cold, wispy cloud material (blue, center) is illuminated in the infrared by the glow of the young, outflowing protostar Ced 110 IRS 4 (orange, upper left). The light from numerous background stars, seen as orange dots behind the cloud, can be used to detect ices in the cloud, which absorb the starlight passing through them.

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JWST has seen building blocks of life in a dark, cold cloud in space

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Amazing JWST images show a nebula shaped by a multi-star system

The stunning filaments and coils of light that make up the Southern Ring Nebula were shaped by as many as five stars all orbiting one another in a complex dance

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The Southern Ring Nebula. The left image highlights the very hot gas and the right image the stars

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JWST has taken astonishing images of debris orbiting a nearby star

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Technology

Biggest science news stories of 2022 as chosen by New Scientist

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JWST captured the most thrilling and inspiring space images of 2022

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JWST has broken the record for most distant galaxy ever confirmed

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