NASA releases more cosmic images from Webb Space Telescope

After US President Biden released the first full-color image of the deep space taken by the James Webb Space Telescope on the 11th, NASA released more full-color images and spectra of the universe taken by the Webb Space Telescope on the 12th.

This is a cosmic image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope and released by NASA on July 12. Xinhua News Agency (Photo provided by NASA)

These images include: a spectrum of the exoplanet "WASP-96b" in the Milky Way, which is located in the southern constellation Phoenix about 1,150 light-years from Earth. The spectrum shows for the first time that the planet has features such as water, haze and clouds; the Southern Ring Nebula, which is about 2,000 light-years from Earth, and the image shows the full picture of this planetary nebula; Stephan's Quintet in Pegasus, and the image reveals the speed and composition of the gas near the galaxy's supermassive black hole; the Carina Nebula, and the image shows its earliest, rapid formation stage.

The image Biden released on the 11th was taken by the Webb Space Telescope of the "SMACS 0723" galaxy cluster, which contains thousands of galaxies and the faintest celestial body ever observed in infrared light. The size of the starry sky in the vast universe covered by the image is equivalent to a person on the ground looking at a grain of sand after spreading his arms.

This is a cosmic image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope and released by NASA on July 12. Xinhua News Agency (Photo provided by NASA)

In a press release released on the 12th, NASA said that the first images observed by the Webb Space Telescope tell the story of the unknown universe by showing various stages of cosmic history, including exoplanets and the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe.

The communiqué said that the release of the Webb Space Telescope's first images and spectra marked the beginning of its scientific mission. Astronomers around the world will have the opportunity to use the instruments carried by the Webb Space Telescope to observe celestial bodies in the solar system and the early universe.

The Webb Space Telescope was jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, and is considered the "successor" to the Hubble Space Telescope. The telescope was launched from the Kourou Space Center in French Guiana on December 25, 2021, and successfully entered its orbit around the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system on January 24 this year.

This is a cosmic image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope and released by NASA on July 12. Xinhua News Agency (Photo provided by NASA)

The Hubble Space Telescope mainly observes in the visible and ultraviolet bands, while the Webb Space Telescope mainly observes in the infrared band. The mission objectives of the Webb Space Telescope include observing how the first galaxies in the universe were born more than 13.5 billion years ago, studying the various stages of galaxy evolution, and observing the formation of stars and planetary systems.

This is a cosmic image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope and released by NASA on July 12. Xinhua News Agency (Photo provided by NASA)

This is a cosmic image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope and released by NASA on July 12. Xinhua News Agency (Photo provided by NASA)