We may be on the verge of discovering something incredible we've mapped our earth we've mapped
our solar system we've mapped our galaxy but we may soon be able to map our entire universe
and peer back into the very beginning of it the James Webb Telescope is about to reveal
some of the first images of the very first galaxies these unprecedented images are just
the first baby steps in observing the origins of existence as we know it the
beauty and clarity of the few that have already been released are bringing astronomers to tears
welcome back to fact nominal today we're examining the very first images from the James
Webb Telescope and exploring what could come next for humanity's newest mightiest cosmic observatory
perhaps the most exciting images the James Webb Telescope produces first
are those from a huge cluster of galaxies in the southern sky called smacs 0723
James Webb was able to capture images of distant galaxies that the Hubble telescope missed this
group of galaxies distorts space in a way that kind of acts like a lens or a magnifying glass
which amplifies the light from even more distant places. Places that are so far back in time and
space that we might well be able to see some of the very earliest stars in the universe it's a
process called gravitational lensing the mass of giant objects actually bends light in a way that
makes the stuff behind them warp and enlarge kind of like a fun house mirror it's an effect that
can only be explained by the existence of dark matter and even though we don't really know what
dark matter is we've at least figured out that it's creating effects like gravitational lensing
that can't be explained in any other way the James Webb Telescope was built to take advantage of this
mysterious phenomena the wavelengths that the telescope is sensitive to were chosen precisely
because these are the wavelengths emitted by light from the very first stars that emerged after the
big bang it's a time that has only been theorized about a time called cosmic dawn when light began
emerging from a period known as the dark ages some 250 to 350 million years after the big bang
ever since NASA announced the first targets of the James Webb Telescope
astronomy lovers from around the world hoped for a fresh look at nebulous
the Carina nebula located some 7 500 light years from earth the Carina nebula is a stellar nursery
exploding with star birth and death within Carina newborn stars that are only a few million years
old are quickly ionizing huge clouds of hydrogen gas and transforming to massive hypergiant stars
as the stars grow their radiation gobbles up the gas clouds some of these gas clouds are pretty
spectacular, but they won't be around for long the most well-known nebula have been dubbed the
pillars of destruction these pillar-like spires plumbing from the nebula are made of hydrogen
but as the newly born stars surrounding them grow and emit more radiation the magnificent
pillars disappear the hydrogen that they're made up of is getting stripped of their electrons by
the stars they've helped create this leads to a process called photoevaporation where the clouds
dissipate into the surrounding cosmos essentially vaporized by their stellar children some of the
best images we have of the Carina nebula come from the European Southern Observatory's very
large telescope in Chile it's been able to give us some stunning portraits of the clouds within
the beauty of Carina is already overwhelming with James Webb we will be able to see some truly
incredible images of star formation the galactic clouds image through near and far infrared light
from the telescope are now more distinct than ever we can actually see the stars being born
within these clouds something that scientists have been chomping at the bit to observe
the difference in clarity is crazy with the hubble telescope we had this and now with
web we have this too but on a much deeper scale we can now see the stars being born within the nebula
star formation happening in front of our eyes in crystal clear super high definition
the James Webb Telescope will also be able to give us a highly detailed look at one of the best known
instances of a galactic collision if we peer farther out past our own Milky Way galaxy
we come to a place where several galaxies are said to crash into each other
Stephan's Quintet was first discovered in 1877 by french astronomer Edward Stephan making it the
first so-called compact group of galaxies ever found the name itself is a bit misleading the
group really consists of four galaxies three of which have been bound in a beautiful cosmic dance
as their gravitational fields interact, and they're pulled together in what will eventually
turn into a spectacular galactic explosion the likes of which will make our mortal heads spin
two of the galaxies in the center actually look like one galaxy with two cores, yet they are in
fact two separate galaxies Right next to this one is ngc7319. Bands of gas and dust spider between
these two where new stars are forming. These galaxies are being warped and twisted as they
move closer together and their gravity coalesces the third galaxy which looks much smaller
has not interacted with its three sisters, yet astronomers do believe that this one is on its
way towards the others and will eventually join the galactic pilot James Webb's advanced infrared
cameras will be able to pick apart the detail of how these galaxies are interacting with her
and give us a better understanding of what's really going on when entire galaxies collide
all four are about 290 million light years from earth the fifth galaxy shown in the
images we have is actually much closer at around 40 million light years from earth it has a more
bluish hue than the others in the group which have a more red issue the Hubble telescope's
observation of Stephan's quintet using its wide field camera 3 back in 2009 has given
us some of the most detailed images we have of the galactic group however the four distant
galaxies are too far away for Hubble to capture any good images of individual stars within them
this won't be a problem for the James Webb Telescope the telescope has now imaged a more
detailed picture than ever it shows the strands that are coming together as these galaxies combine
within these strands we can see the birthing of stars in a way that we never could have
with the hubble telescope just compare these filaments with the ones before
one of the first targets of the james webb telescope and astronomers is the southern ring
nebula this nebula is known as a planetary nebula planetary nebulae don't really have anything to
do with planets but they get the name because they have a round shape that makes them look
like planets when observers peer at them through smaller visual telescopes in reality they're
massive shells of gas that have been ejected by dying stars the southern ring nebula sits some
2 000 light years from earth which actually makes it one of the closer planetary nebulae
that we've observed it's almost half a light year in diameter and the gases are expanding outward
at a rate of about nine miles per second at its center sit two stars one bright and one dim
the dimmer one is thought to be where most of the nebulous cloud was ejected from,
and the brighter one will eventually burst and spit out its own nebula before web the best images
we have of the southern ring came from the Hubble telescope Hubble gave us a pretty spectacular view
of the nebula researchers actually chose the colors you're seeing now based on temperature
the blue center represents the hottest temperatures while the reddish orange on
the edges represents cooler temperatures as you can see in the image released today the James Webb
Telescope gives us a much sharper detailed look at the southern ring than ever before it makes the
Hubble images look like a blurry cartoon of the thing we see now, and it's helping us understand
more about how it formed and possibly what will happen to our own sun in some 5 billion years
the James Webb Telescope will also be able to search the cosmos for exoplanets that could
harbor extraterrestrial life or at least have some of the right conditions for life to emerge
these goldilocks planets are just the right distance away from their suns
finding them has been hard but the James Webb Telescope will make the search much easier
the last of the images released by NASA today are from an exoplanet called wasp 96b wasp 96b is a
gas giant around half the size of Jupiter that is too hot and big to have life on it
as you can see in the photo NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has demonstrated its
unprecedented ability to thoroughly analyze the atmosphere of a planet more than one thousand
light years away with the combined forces of its 270 square foot mirror precision
spectrographs and sensitive detectors webb has revealed the unambiguous signature of water
indications of haze and evidence for clouds that were thought not to exist based on prior studies
later on the telescope will also capture images of seven earth-sized planets that orbit a dwarf star
named trappist-1 the system is pretty nearby in cosmic terms some 40 light years away
astronomers think that perhaps all seven of the planets could be goldilocks planets
it will be tantalizing to see just what the James Webb Telescope begins capturing
the more we are able to see the more we can learn about our incredible universe we're taking a
giant leap into the depths of the cosmos seeing farther and in more detail than ever before
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