geoff: From the furthest reaches
of space to our very own milky
way galaxy...
Nasa's James Webb space
telescope, the largest and most
powerful of its kind, launched
last Christmas and released its
first image in July -- the
deepest, sharpest view we've
ever seen of the universe.
Since then, it has captured
faraway star nurseries, cosmic
cliffs, and galactic clusters.
Anyone can see that the images
carry breathtaking beauty and
astonishing scale.
But what do they actually tell
us about our cosmos?
"Pbs newshour" science
correspondent miles o'brien
joins us now to help decipher it
all.
Miles, it's great to speak with
you.
Miles: Geoff, likewise.
Geoff: So let's put up a few of
these images.
We'll start with this one,
because when we look at this
deep field image, we're actually
looking at thousands of
galaxies, is that right?
Miles: Thousands of galaxies
we've never seen before.
They trained the Webb telescope
at a piece of the sky that was
pretty much dark.
And what did they see?
Thousands of galaxies that we
didn't know existed.
It's an extraordinary thing when
you think about it.
That's one time exposure.
One tiny little piece of sky.
I don't know about you, but it
sure makes me seem a little bit
smaller.
The other thing that's kind of
interesting about this is you'll
see some artifacts, they look
like smears almost or blurs.
That is a phenomenon we call
gravitational lensing.
And what that means is the stars
that are closest to us actually
warp the light and create
nature's own telescope to make
it easier for us to see galaxies
behind it.
So by refracting the light, they
actually magnify what's behind
it.
So we're actually getting a
little bonus above and beyond
what Webb does, which is pretty
extraordinary.
Geoff: Yeah, a little assist
there from nature.
The Webb space telescope, as you
mentioned, I mean, it allows us
to look far into space, seeing
how stars and planets and
galaxies evolve.
This next image is something
that I didn't even know existed.
It's a stellar nursery.
Tell us about this.
Miles: Yeah.
Welcome to galaxy day care, I
guess.
This is a stellar nursery.
This is the Orion nebula.
That's a well-documented piece
of the sky.
Hubble has looked at it for
years, but this is by far the
most detailed look at it that
we've ever gotten.
It's about 1350 light years
away.
.
For those of you keeping score.
What you're seeing, there is all
kinds of ionized and molecular
gases and dust being scattered.
And if you look over in the
side, there's a trio.
There's a cluster of stars
called the trapezium cluster.
They're the ones that are doing
all the damage.
When a star is young, it's hot.
It's kind of like a lot of
things, I suppose.
And it is kicking up a lot of
energy and clearing off all that
space, creating what we call the
Orion bar, which is that angular
sort of cloud light object in
the center of the screen.
Geoff: So let's move to this
next image.
This is an image of Jupiter.
And scientists, as I understand
it, they were really surprised
at how well Webb was able to get
this image of Jupiter.
Why is that?
Miles: Well, if nothing else,
the great red spot is white in
the spectrum.
But seriously, the amount of
detail in Jupiter is
extraordinary to them.
You know, Jupiter is just
filled -- it's a maelstrom of
storms.
You know, that red spot is
basically a storm that would
envelop the entire planet of
Earth.
And there's Auroras that have
become evident in looking at
this picture.
There's all kinds of indications
as far as the cloud levels and
layers.
It's an attempt to get beneath
the surface.
The surface in Jupiter is pretty
fascinating.
And when we say surface, of
course, it's not a hard surface,
but beneath it has always been
pretty much a mystery.
And this is helping us get
beyond that.
Geoff: This last image is a
personal favorite.
It's a cosmic cliff.
Tell us about this one.
Miles: Yeah, it doesn't get
prettier than this.
You know, this is science, but
we can also enjoy it, too, for
those of us who don't know the
science very well.
One thing you should know, this
is the cosmic cliffs the carina
, nebula.
This is the one that's going to
be on the covers of textbooks, I
predict, because how do you get
better than that?
But, you know, it's worth
pointing out here an interesting
point of this, geoff, is that
the images that are captured by
Webb are in the infrared
spectrum, which is to say we
can't see them.
So basically it's like a black
and white image that comes down
from space.
It is put on a repository that
is available to the general
public, and members of the
public are going in and creating
these -- sort of putting in a
visible spectrum on top of the
infrared to allow the human eye
to see it.
So there is a certain bit of
artistic interpretation that
goes along with this.
And a lot of people out there
can join in if they want to.
But what you're seeing there is,
again, this tremendous energy
and dynamism as the universe is
in its formation.
This is a rare time for a
galaxy.
It lasts about, a few tens of
thousands of years at this stage
of formation.
And the fact that Webb has
gotten a picture of it is, you
know, a pretty priceless baby
picture for some young stars.
Geoff: Yeah, I'll say.
Miles o'brien, the best of the
best.
Thanks so much for being with
us.
Miles: You're welcome, geoff.