The James Webb Space Telescope

[phyzguy]

I wonder if someone can answer a question for me. Probably a silly question but I am looking at the "star death" image, the planetary nebula. It looks like we are looking through a big hole in a spherical object, or is it a flat ring around the star we are looking at from above? The main reason for my question is that you can see the gas and dust inside the nebula that looks like behind the star it is a solid wall. I imagine when the star explodes it blows stuff out in all directions.

It is a spherical shell, but you are looking through less material in the center as along the edges (see sketch), so it makes it look like an annular ring. The material you say is "behind the star" is both in front of and behind the star.

 

[Kevin the Kiwi]

It is a spherical shell, but you are looking through less material in the center as along the edges (see sketch), so it makes it look like an annular ring. The material you say is "behind the star" is both in front of and behind the star.

View attachment 304135

Ah yes, that makes complete sense, I honestly never would have thought of that. Thank you for your reply.

 

[Devin-M]

“Jupiter, center, and its moon Europa, left, are seen through the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam instrument 2.12 micron filter. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and B. Holler and J. Stansberry (STScI)”
https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/07...and-more-now-available-in-commissioning-data/

“Two photos of Jupiter taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. The left image was taken using a NIRCam (near infrared camera) to examine the planet’s short wavelengths of light. The right image was taken with a filter that highlights long wavelengths. NASA”

https://globalnews.ca/news/8987398/james-webb-space-telescope-pictures-jupiter-why-you-missed-them/

 

[russ_watters]

OT posts about sensor principles of operation split to a new thread here:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/jwst-sensor-thread-split.1016876/

 

[Devin-M]

I was able to download some RAW telescope data in FITS format from here:
https://outerspace.stsci.edu/display/MASTDATA/JWST+AWS+Bulk+Download+Scripts

If you open one of the bulk download scripts in a text editor it will list out the download URLs of the FITS files where the RAW data is stored...

100% Crop of some of the data:

 

[Devin-M]

If you search for ".jpg" in the bulk download scripts (available at: https://outerspace.stsci.edu/display/MASTDATA/JWST+AWS+Bulk+Download+Scripts ) through a text editor you can find links to JPG files of some of the data for easier viewing than the FITS format:

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/ero/jw02732/jw02732001005/jw02732001005_02103_00005_nrca4_cal.jpg

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/er.../jw02732001006_02105_00005_nrca1_o001_crf.jpg

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/ero/jw02732/jw02732001006/jw02732001006_02105_00002_nrcb1_cal.jpg

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/er...01/jw02732002001_02103_00004_mirimage_cal.jpg

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/er...05/jw02732001005_02101_00003_nrcalong_cal.jpg

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/ero/jw02732/jw02732001002/jw02732001002_02101_00003_nrcb2_cal.jpg

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/er.../jw02736001001_02103_00007_nrcb1_o001_crf.jpg

100% crop, above image

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/ero/jw02731/jw02731001001/jw02731001001_02105_00004_nrca1_cal.jpg

 

[Devin-M]

100% crop, above image

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/er...01/jw02731001001_02103_00001_nrcblong_cal.jpg

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/ero/jw02731/jw02731001002/jw02731001002_02103_00001_nrca2_cal.jpg

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/er...02731001003_02105_00002_nrcblong_o001_crf.jpg

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/er...02731002005_02107_00005_mirimage_o002_crf.jpg

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/er.../jw02731001004_02103_00001_nrcb2_o001_crf.jpg

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/ero/jw02731/jw02731001001/jw02731001001_02101_00001_nrca1_cal.jpg

 

[Astronuc]

Webb telescope suffered ‘uncorrectable damage’ in micrometeoroid hit, NASA report says​

https://thehill.com/policy/technolo...amage-in-micrometeoroid-hit-nasa-report-says/

At 21 feet, Webb’s gold-plated, flower-shaped mirror is the biggest and most sensitive ever sent into space. It’s comprised of 18 segments, one of which was smacked by the bigger than anticipated micrometeoroid in May. Micrometeoroids are fragments of asteroids that are usually smaller than a grain of sand, according to NASA.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/webb-telescope-suffered-uncorrectable-damage-030948640.html

 

[DennisN]

Here's a new video from the Royal Institution:
(I haven't seen it yet, but I wanted to share it)

Solar system science from the James Webb Space Telescope – with Naomi Rowe-Gurney (RI)
What is the JWST, and what big science questions can it answer? Join NASA scientist Naomi as she discusses the new JWST images, along with her research into the ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, and the many other areas that JWST can help with.


Edit: And the Q&A is here:

Q&A: Solar system science from the James Webb Space Telescope – with Naomi Rowe-Gurney (RI)

 

[Devin-M]

I enlarged a bunch of galaxies / objects from the 1st released image from James Webb of SMACS 0723...

(original image: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/...livers-deepest-infrared-image-of-universe-yet )

 

[Devin-M]

 

[Devin-M]

 

[Devin-M]

 

[Devin-M]

 

[Filip Larsen]

https://arstechnica.com/science/202...have-already-spotted-the-oldest-known-galaxy/
with a layman's presentation of the results in the (draft) paper https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.09434.

 

[Devin-M]

Phantom Galaxy, James Webb Telescope, MIRI Instrument:

https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-phantom-galaxy-image

 

[Filip Larsen]

Yet another new very early galaxy candidate from JWST, this time with an age estimated around 230-ish million years after BB: https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.12356, with a layman's summary found at https://arstechnica.com/science/202...omers-find-a-galaxy-even-deeper-back-in-time/

 

[Astronuc]

Two Weeks In, the Webb Space Telescope Is Reshaping Astronomy​

https://www.quantamagazine.org/two-...ce-telescope-is-reshaping-astronomy-20220725/

 

[anorlunda]

I was surprised at the nomenclature -- Population III stars in the oldest galaxies. I would have guessed that the numbering would run the other direction. I looked it up and learned that my understanding was backwards.

Every day on PF I get to learn something new.

 

[phyzguy]

Astronomy has the interesting practice that nothing ever gets re-defined. Hipparchus defined the magnitude scale almost 3000 more than 2000 years ago, and called the brightest stars 1st magnitude, the next brightest 2nd magnitude, and so on. So we are stuck with a magnitude scale that runs backwards - where brighter stars have a smaller magnitude than dimmer stars.

Population I and Population II were defined before anyone knew why they were different and that Population II came before Population I.

 

[DennisN]

Two Weeks In, the Webb Space Telescope Is Reshaping Astronomy​

https://www.quantamagazine.org/two-...ce-telescope-is-reshaping-astronomy-20220725/

Stunning photos in that article!
The first one (of galaxy NGC 7496) is just incredibly beautiful!

 

[Devin-M]

 

[phinds]

@Devin-M are we supposed to guess what those are?

 

[Office_Shredder]

Astronomy has the interesting practice that nothing ever gets re-defined. Hipparchus defined the magnitude scale almost 3000 more than 2000 years ago, and called the brightest stars 1st magnitude, the next brightest 2nd magnitude, and so on. So we are stuck with a magnitude scale that runs backwards - where brighter stars have a smaller magnitude than dimmer stars.

Population I and Population II were defined before anyone knew why they were different and that Population II came before Population I.

The numbering makes sense to me. You know you can see the brightest stars, and who the heck knows how many classifications you're going to want for the stars you can't see yet.

 

[Devin-M]

@Devin-M are we supposed to guess what those are?

Here's what it would look like through a 2000mm telescope in Stellarium:

RA 11h06m18.79s Dec -77º22'50.9"

James Webb NIRCam:

100% Crop:

 

[phyzguy]

The numbering makes sense to me. You know you can see the brightest stars, and who the heck knows how many classifications you're going to want for the stars you can't see yet.

When it was just a numbering classification, it made perfect sense, which is why Hipparchus defined it that way. But later, when quantitative measurements of brightness arrived, we turned it into a quantitative magnitude scale for measuring brightness. After doing that, we really would rather have a brighter object have a larger magnitude. But that would mean re-defining the scale. So today, the faintest objects we can see with our eyes are m=6.0, the faintest objects seen in large telescopes are about m=30.0 and the sun is m=-26.

 

[Devin-M]

RA 01:07:47.200 DEC -17:30:25.00
JWST NIRCam Bi-Color, F150W & F200W Filters, 2319s exp per filter
Processed w/ SiriL, Adobe Photoshop & Lightroom

100% Crop:

 

[Devin-M]

RA 2:17:46 DEC -05:16:15
JWST NIRCam 7-29-22 12:04

 

[Devin-M]

 

[Devin-M]