The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has continued to captivate scientists and amateur astronomers with its breathtaking images, offering a deeper understanding of the universe’s most distant and ancient objects.
This year, the JWST released 19 stunning images of spiral galaxies, providing a detailed view of these galaxies’ intricate internal structures. The telescope also found evidence of a neutron star in the remnants of a supernova, solving a mystery that had puzzled scientists for decades.
The JWST has broken records for observing the most distant and ancient examples of celestial objects, including supermassive black holes, galaxies, and black hole mergers. In May, the telescope discovered the oldest galaxy ever observed, GN-z11, which dates back 13.5 billion years after the Big Bang. It also found evidence of a merger between two galaxies and their central black holes.
The JWST provided spectacular confirmation of scientists’ theories regarding star formation regions by imaging aligned bipolar jets. The telescope also released images of two colliding galaxies, showing the dramatic effect of gravity on these cosmic events.
In September, the JWST observed an ancient galaxy with a previously unseen spectral signature, suggesting that its gas was superheated by Population III stars. This discovery offers new insights into the formation of galaxies and the early universe.
Additionally, the JWST captured a rare gravitational lensing effect, magnifying the image of a red galaxy and allowing for study of its structure. The telescope also released an image with two “blood-red eyes,” which combines data from both the Hubble Telescope and JWST.
In October, the JWST found evidence for brown dwarfs outside our galaxy, marking a significant discovery in the field of exoplanetary science. Finally, the JWST provided sharper images of the Sombrero Galaxy, offering new insights into this iconic celestial object.
The JWST’s continued discoveries have cemented its position as one of the most powerful tools for understanding the universe, and it will undoubtedly continue to reveal more secrets about the cosmos in the years to come.
Source: https://www.popsci.com/science/best-images-jwst-2024