NASA releases the next wave of images from the James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope began releasing a new wave of cosmic images Tuesday, ushering in a new era in astronomy.

“Each image is a new discovery,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Each will give humanity a view of the universe we have never seen before.”

On Monday, Webb unveiled the clearest picture yet of the early Universe, dating back 13 billion years.

A new image Tuesday showed water vapor in the atmosphere of a distant gas planet. The spectroscopy — a light analysis that provides detailed information — comes from planet WASP-96 b, discovered in 2014.

WASP-96 b is nearly 1,150 light-years from Earth, about half the mass of Jupiter, and orbits its star in just 3.4 days.

“We’ve seen what happens when a planet and its atmosphere passes in front of the star and the starlight filters through the atmosphere, and you can break that down into wavelengths of light,” said NASA’s Knicole Colon.

“So you’re actually seeing bumps and wobbles that indicate the presence of water vapor in the planet’s atmosphere.”

Other targets to be unleashed include the Carina Nebula, a stellar nursery famed for its towering pillars, including “Mystic Mountain,” a three-light-year-tall cosmic pinnacle captured in an iconic Hubble image.

A stunning image released by the White House on Monday was crowded with thousands of galaxies and shows some of the faintest objects observed.

Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, it features the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 acting as a gravitational lens, directing light from more distant galaxies behind towards the observatory in a cosmic magnifying effect.

Launched in December 2021 from French Guiana on an Ariane 5 rocket, Webb orbits the Sun one million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth in a region of space known as the second Lagrange point referred to as.

Here it remains in a fixed position relative to the Earth and Sun, using minimal fuel for course corrections.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $10 billion, an engineering marvel, making it one of the most expensive science platforms ever built, comparable to the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

Webb’s primary mirror is over 6.5 meters wide and consists of 18 gold-coated mirror segments. As with a handheld camera, the structure must remain as stable as possible to get the best shots.

After the first images, astronomers around the world will be awarded time shares at the telescope, with projects being selected competitively through a process in which applicants and selectors do not know each other’s identities to minimize bias.

Thanks to an efficient launch, Webb has enough propellant to last 20 years, NASA estimates, as it works with the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes to answer fundamental questions about the cosmos.