The James Webb Space Telescope

phyzguy · Jul 13, 2022

Kevin the Kiwi said:

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.

Sketch of a blue annular ring with two black arrows pointing up at its outer edge, one at the lower left and one at the bottom, showing the line-of-sight paths through a shell.

Kevin the Kiwi · Jul 13, 2022

phyzguy said:

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 · Jul 15, 2022

Jupiter rendered in false-colour near-infrared, with bright banded cloud belts and the Great Red Spot at lower right; the moon Europa appears as a small star-like point at left.

“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 side-by-side false-colour infrared images of Jupiter: left F212N with orange bands and labelled moons Europa and Thebe; right F323N, yellow-glowing disc with Thebe and Metis labelled.

“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 · Jul 15, 2022

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 · Jul 15, 2022

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:

Greyscale crop of raw telescope image data, showing a dense field of small bright white specks and a few dark pixels scattered over a uniform grey background.

Devin-M · Jul 15, 2022

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:

Screenshot of a text editor search for ".jpg" showing a shell script with cat and curl commands that download JWST data files from stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu.

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

Grayscale astronomical image of a galaxy with a bright elongated core and faint diffuse outer structure against a black field of scattered stars.

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

$Grayscale astronomical image showing a star field with faint horizontal streaks, several bright stars with diffraction spikes, and elongated edge-on galaxies scattered across the frame.$

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

$Greyscale astronomical image of a star field with horizontal streaking; several bright diffraction-spiked stars and many faint elongated and round galaxies against a dark background.$

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

Greyscale raw detector frame from a space telescope showing a dark vertical band on the left with a few gridded panels, and a field of faint stars and small galaxies on the right.

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

Greyscale astronomical image of a field of stars on a black background, with a large elliptical galaxy with a bright central core in the upper centre and faint streaks of galaxies at its edges.

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

$Grayscale astronomical image of a star field with a very bright star having diffraction spikes, faint galaxies, and streaks from cosmic ray or trail artifacts.$

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

$Greyscale astronomical image of a deep field of distant galaxies, with several bright foreground stars showing diffraction spikes against a dark background.$

100% crop, above image

$Grayscale astronomical image of a star field with several faint galaxies, a bright foreground star with diffraction spikes at right, and a few small white dots of stars scattered across the frame.$

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

$Grayscale astronomical image of a star field with a thin, curving dark-edged nebula filament arcing across the upper half, with several bright diffraction-spiked stars and a small bright patch near the lower center.$

Devin-M · Jul 15, 2022

100% crop, above image

$Greyscale astronomical image of a star field with a diffuse, wispy nebula band running diagonally from upper left to lower right; several bright stars show diffraction spikes.$

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

$Grayscale telescope image of a dense star field with a bright diffraction-spike star near upper centre, above a wispy nebula edge rising from the bottom and right.$

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

$Greyscale astronomical image of a dark nebula with a dense dark cloud in the centre and several bright foreground stars with diffraction spikes, faint glowing gas around them, and scattered background stars.$

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

$Grayscale astronomical image of a dusty nebula with wispy filaments and dark lanes, scattered with many small stars and a few brighter stars with diffraction spikes.$

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

Greyscale telescope detector frame showing faint wispy nebulous structure on the right, with a dark instrument bar and grid of detector segments on the left, and a bright blob at upper left.

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

$Grayscale infrared astronomy image of a dark nebula with dense dust clouds across the lower half, scattered stars, and several bright stars with diffraction spikes at the top.$

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

Grayscale astronomical image of a dark nebula with a bright, wispy gas edge running diagonally across the top, dense dark dust lanes below, and scattered stars; a bright white star sits at the upper right edge.

Astronuc · Jul 20, 2022

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 th e 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 · Jul 21, 2022

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 · Jul 22, 2022

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 )

Enlarged view of a galaxy with a bright central core and a curved, arm-like extension sweeping down and to the left, with faint bluish outer structure and several bright foreground stars.

Enlarged view of a tilted spiral galaxy with a bright golden central bulge and faint outer arms, with a small bluish galaxy and a thin edge-on galaxy nearby against a dark background.

Enlarged view of a barred spiral galaxy with a bright central core and pale, golden spiral arms against a dark background, with a small bright star-like object at lower left.

Enlarged view of a faint, irregular galaxy against a black background, with warm orange-gold clumps of light along a curved arm and a smaller, fainter companion structure to the right.

Enlarged view of a barred-free spiral galaxy with a bright central core and faint curved arms, with a bright blue-white star-like point at its right edge and a small faint elliptical galaxy below it.

Enlarged view of a tilted, orange-yellow edge-on spiral galaxy with a bright central core, surrounded by a few small faint blue-white objects against a dark background.

Enlarged view of a tilted spiral galaxy with a bright, glowing central core and a faint, diffuse yellowish disk, on a dark background.

Enlarged deep-field galaxy image: a faint, irregular galaxy with clumpy bright knots and a bright compact elliptical galaxy at lower right, on a dark background.

Enlarged view of a spiral galaxy seen at an angle, with a bright yellow-orange core and faint arms, plus a bright blue star-forming knot on one arm.

Enlarged view of a spiral galaxy with a bright central core and a faint, mottled spiral arm structure against a black background, with small bright knots along its outer edge.

Devin-M · Jul 22, 2022

Dim astronomical image of a galaxy with a bright yellowish central core, surrounded by scattered pinkish knots and clumps, with a brighter white point source to the left and a faint diffuse glow.

Astronomical image of a tilted, oval galaxy glowing orange-yellow, with a bright central core and several bright knots along its spiral-like arms, with a bright blue-white star at lower right.

Elongated yellow-orange galaxy seen edge-on, diagonal from upper left to lower right, with two small bluish point-like objects nearby on a dark background.

$Astronomical image of a diffuse, elongated tan-colored galaxy crossed by a bright, narrow streak near its center, with a small bright spot above and several faint background galaxies and stars, one bright star with diffraction spikes at the upper left.$

Astronomical image of a dark field with a diagonal elongated orange-yellow galaxy and a smaller glowing yellow blob above it, with faint point-like stars nearby.

Astronomical image of a dark field scattered with galaxies, dominated by a large glowing yellow elliptical galaxy at centre right with a bright core, surrounded by smaller spiral and elliptical galaxies.

Blurred orange-red galaxy against a black background, with a bright core and a diagonal extension of clumpy knots running down to the lower left and a yellowish knot at the upper right.

Two galaxies on a dark background: a bright elongated galaxy at upper right and a smaller, fainter galaxy with a bright core below and to the left, appearing to overlap or interact.

Astronomical image of a bright, roughly round elliptical galaxy with a glowing white core fading into a soft halo, surrounded by faint background stars and a small smudge of a distant galaxy at upper right.

Astronomical image of two galaxies on a dark background: a small orange-tinted irregular galaxy at upper left and a larger, elongated spiral galaxy seen edge-on below it, with a faint vertical streak running down the right side.

Devin-M · Jul 22, 2022

Astronomical image of a diffuse, elongated orange galaxy tilted diagonally across a dark background, with a bright central core, surrounded by a few small faint blue-white galaxies.

Astronomical image of a glowing yellow-white galaxy with a bright central core, surrounded by faint reddish-brown haze and scattered small smudges against a dark background.

Blurred false-colour astronomical image of a small irregular galaxy on a black background, with a bright glowing central core and clumps of bluish star-forming knots scattered through its diffuse arms.

Astronomical image on a dark background showing two elongated, fuzzy galaxies: a larger oval one at upper right and a smaller, tilted one at lower left, with a bright point of light at upper left.

Dark astronomical image with a diffuse, elongated pinkish-white streak running diagonally, dotted with small yellowish point-like star images, and a bright blurred light glow at lower right.

Deep-field astronomical image on a black background showing a chain of bright yellowish galaxies and faint blue galaxies, with a thin elongated edge-on galaxy in the lower half.

Astronomical image on a black background showing four elongated galaxies seen edge-on: a pale yellow one at upper left, an orange-tinted one at upper right, and two whitish ones at lower left and lower centre.

Color astronomical image of an irregular galaxy against a black background, with a bright orange-brown core, purple-tinted knots of star formation, and a long tail stretching to the upper right.

$Astronomical image of a hazy, yellowish galaxy with a bright central core and a smaller bright blob to its left, with a large bright star with diffraction spikes in the lower right, against a dark background.$

Astronomical image on a black background showing a reddish-orange elliptical galaxy at upper right with a bluish tail, and a chain of bluish star-forming knots and an elongated pale galaxy at centre-left.

Devin-M · Jul 22, 2022

Astronomical image of a galaxy with a bright, yellowish glowing core surrounded by a diffuse ring of bluish clumps of star-forming regions on a dark background.

Blurry astronomical image of a glowing yellow-orange galaxy with a bright central core, surrounded by a faint dark background of space.

Telescope image of a glowing, roughly elliptical galaxy with a bright central core and a faint diffuse halo, set against a dark background with a few small background stars.

Astronomical image of an elongated, tilted galaxy against a dark background, with a bright yellowish core and a brighter knot of light near its lower end, plus a small bluish star-like point to its upper left.

Blurry astronomical image of a glowing, roughly circular galaxy with a bright central core and faint spiral-like structure, surrounded by dark sky with a few faint background objects.

Astronomical image of two elongated, yellow-orange galaxies on a dark background, with a faint bridge of light connecting them and a small bright star-like point above.

Telescope image of a spiral galaxy seen at an angle, with a bright oval central bulge and faint, patchy spiral arms with bluish star-forming knots against a black background.

Blurred elongated orange-yellow galaxy seen edge-on, diagonal from upper left to lower right, against a dark background.

Astronomical image of a glowing reddish-orange galaxy with a bright central core and faint knots of light scattered around its outskirts, against a dark background.

Astronomical image of a dark field with a faint, elongated galaxy in the centre-right and a fuzzy, irregular galaxy to its upper left, plus a small edge-on galaxy below.

Devin-M · Jul 22, 2022

Astronomical image on a dark background showing two bright, elongated elliptical galaxies side by side, one yellowish on the left and a whiter one on the right, with faint background galaxies nearby.

Astronomical image of a curved, arc-shaped golden-yellow galaxy stretched across a dark field, with a bright glowing galaxy at lower left and a small bright blue-white object and a faint thin streak at upper right.

Astronomical image of an elliptical galaxy with a bright golden core and faint dusty halo, with a smaller bluish spiral galaxy and a few background stars in a dark sky.

$Astronomical image of an edge-on spiral galaxy, a thin glowing golden streak running diagonally across a dark starfield, with a faint blue diffraction spike crossing the upper right.$

Dark field with a faint, elongated grey galaxy at centre, surrounded by four small bluish point-like sources, possibly foreground stars or compact knots.

Dark field with several faint, small galaxies in colours ranging from white to orange and blue, with an elongated orange-tinted galaxy at lower centre.

Astronomical image of a tilted, elongated galaxy glowing orange-brown, with a bright central core, and a small bluish point of light to its right against a dark background.

Faint elongated galaxy on a black background, tilted diagonally, with a warm yellowish-orange core and bluish knots toward the lower-right end.

Astronomical image of an elongated, orange-yellow galaxy against a dark background, with a bright central core and a few faint background stars nearby.

Faint, elongated galaxy on a black background, with bright clumps of star-forming regions along a diagonal streak tilted from upper left to lower right.

Filip Larsen · Jul 22, 2022

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 · Jul 22, 2022

Phantom Galaxy, James Webb Telescope, MIRI Instrument:

Infrared image of the Phantom Galaxy, a face-on spiral galaxy with dusty blue-grey spiral arms, bright star clusters and red-tinged points, and a bright blue-white glowing core.

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

Filip Larsen · Jul 26, 2022

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 · Jul 28, 2022

Two Weeks In, the Webb Space Telescope Is Reshaping Astronomy

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

anorlunda · Jul 28, 2022

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 · Jul 28, 2022

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 · Jul 28, 2022

Astronuc said:

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 · Jul 29, 2022

$Two grayscale mosaic panels of a nebula's wispy dust and gas filaments, with bright diffraction spikes from stars crossing the frame and scattered background stars.$

$Grayscale deep-field astronomy image with several bright diffraction-spike stars, faint elongated galaxies and round galaxy blurs on a dark, noisy background with a diagonal brightness gradient.$

phinds · Jul 29, 2022

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

Office_Shredder · Jul 29, 2022

phyzguy said:

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 · Jul 29, 2022

phinds said:

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

Screenshot of the STScI MAST Archive portal showing a table of JWST NIRCam observations with a list of observation IDs and RA and Dec columns, beside an AstroView panel showing a nebula with white instrument footprint outlines.

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

Stellarium simulation of a star field with bright blue nebulous regions and a reddish knot, with a red rectangular field-of-view outline and an HIP star label at the bottom, showing the sky as seen through a 2000mm telescope.

RA 11h06m18.79s Dec -77º22'50.9"

James Webb NIRCam:

$Grayscale two-panel mosaic of a faint nebular field dotted with stars, with bright diffraction spikes radiating from the brightest stars across both panels.$

100% Crop:

$Grayscale deep-field astronomy image of a star field with diffraction-spiked bright stars, several faint elongated galaxies and round galaxy cores, and a diffuse background glow.$

phyzguy · Jul 29, 2022

Office_Shredder said:

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 · Jul 30, 2022

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

Bi-color near-infrared image of a galaxy pair on a black background, with a bright orange-white central core, scattered golden star clusters, and a smaller spiral galaxy at upper left.

100% Crop:

Infrared telescope image of a dusty star-forming region showing a bright, clumpy field of orange and white star clusters, with a small spiral galaxy in the upper left and a bright glow at the bottom.

Screenshot of the MAST Advanced Search results table with a Mast Portal list of JWST observations, alongside an Aladin Lite sky view showing a bright galaxy-like object inside a white rotated footprint outline.

Devin-M · Jul 30, 2022

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

$Deep-field astronomical image of a dark sky scattered with small galaxies and a few bright foreground stars with diffraction spikes, crossed by faint diagonal streaks from the telescope's optics.$

$Deep-field astronomy image of a dark sky scattered with many small, faint galaxies, with diagonal diffraction spikes and streaks from bright stars running across the frame.$

Deep-space astronomy image on a black background showing many small elongated and spiral galaxies in green and white, with a larger bluish-green spiral galaxy near the center-left.

Screenshot of the MAST Advanced Search web portal listing NIRCam and MIRI observations with filters and a results table, beside an AstroView panel showing sky footprints.

Devin-M · Jul 30, 2022

Dark field of space with a large face-on spiral galaxy at upper right and several edge-on and small galaxies scattered across it, rendered in gold and violet tones.

False-colour astronomical image of a barred spiral galaxy in yellow and gold against a dark purple background, with a bright central nucleus and blue-violet star-forming knots along its spiral arms.

Screenshot of the MAST archive portal showing a table of 138 of 199 observations, with columns for instrument, filters, target name and start time, and an AstroView panel with a footprint overlay.

Devin-M · Jul 30, 2022

Deep-field astronomical image dense with stars and distant galaxies, with a yellow-orange spiral galaxy with a warped, tidal arm at upper left, a edge-on disk galaxy at lower right, and bluish galaxies scattered throughout.

Deep-field astronomical image of a dense star field with many foreground stars and a few distant galaxies, including a spiral galaxy with a bright core in the lower left and an elliptical galaxy in the lower right.

$Dense star field with a bright foreground star with diffraction spikes on the left and a thin, edge-on yellow-orange spiral galaxy with a central bulge on the right.$

The James Webb Space Telescope

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

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

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

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