James Webb: breathtaking discoveries
James Webb: breathtaking discoveries
These images have been awaited for a long time by astronomy enthusiasts ... But what do they tell us about the universe?
The whole world is in admiration of the pictures published by NASA in mid-July. One of the goals of this telescope was to search for primordial galaxies, and it is done! Indeed, these infrared photos allow us to see galaxies older than 13 billion light-years, barely younger than the Big Bang. This will certainly improve our knowledge of the genesis of the Universe, which is only at its beginning.
These images have also allowed the exploration of celestial bodies much more known and close, such as Jupiter. Scientists were able to discover that the gas planet, known since Antiquity, is surrounded by a layer so hot that it causes a red halo visible around the planet. The cause of this phenomenon intrigues astronomers and will be studied very soon.
Among the notable features of these photos, we can also mention the Carina nebula, with hundreds of new or emerging stars, and the Southern Ring nebula, which is composed of a huge cloud of gas around a dying star. The telescope also allowed us to witness a real astral ballet: Stephan’s Quintet, a grouping of several interacting galaxies. These images are a real mine of information! Even if scientists have started to study them, this is only the beginning…