Webb telescope makes discovery that was previously impossible

[Judi Lynn]

"No other telescope could have made this discovery."
By Mark Kaufman on June 25, 2024



A spectacular new view of galaxies captured by the James Webb Space Telescope in deep space, billions of light-years away. Credit: ESA Webb / NASA / CSA / L. Bradley (STScI) / A. Adamo (Stockholm University) / Cosmic Spring collaboration


Astronomers are getting their money's worth.

Scientists used the powerful $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope to peer into some of the deepest cosmos, and for the first time captured views of star clusters inside an extremely ancient galaxy. In the images below, you're viewing these star clusters, which are gravitationally bound groupings of stars, as they existed just 460 million years after the universe's creation. That's looking through 97 percent of cosmic time.

Scientists used the powerful $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope to peer into some of the deepest cosmos, and for the first time captured views of star clusters inside an extremely ancient galaxy. In the images below, you're viewing these star clusters, which are gravitationally bound groupings of stars, as they existed just 460 million years after the universe's creation. That's looking through 97 percent of cosmic time.

This profoundly deep space view was made possible by the double whammy of the Webb telescope's unprecedented sensitivity — its over 21-foot-wide gold-plated mirrors detect extremely faint sources of light — and a natural phenomenon called a "gravitational lens." In the foreground sits a massive cluster of galaxies, each containing hundreds of billions of stars, millions of black holes, and perhaps trillions of planets. The combined mass of these galaxies warps space, like a bowling ball sitting on a mattress. It creates a giant magnifying lens.

"Webb's incredible sensitivity and angular resolution at near-infrared wavelengths, combined with gravitational lensing provided by the massive foreground galaxy cluster, enabled this discovery," Larry Bradley, an astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute which manages the Webb telescope, said in a statement.

More:
https://mashable.com/article/james-webb-space-telescope-nasa-galaxies-star-clusters

[erronis]

1. I just knew that a "gravitational lens" would be in this article.

These have become incredibly powerful ways at looking at these distant objects and utilizing the curvature of light by massive gravity. How incredibly confirming of the reason and the rational for science. Theoretical and practical science.

Thanks Judi.

[poli-junkie]

2. There are a lot of lighted

straight lines. Are they star clusters edge-on?

Amazing sight to behold 🤩

[Bayard]

3. Webb's telescope is opening so many doors for us

Amazing!

[Permanut]

4. Spectacular is the word..

or maybe whatever is the next thing past spectacular.

[Otto_Harper]

5. And yet, with all of the amazing new knowledge JWST is bringing us

Half the population still thinks that the Book of Invisible Sky Buddy Stories, from the bronze age, is all we need to explain everything