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Expert explains new photos released from the James Webb Space Telescope

Expert explains new photos released from the James Webb Space Telescope
DISCOVERIES YET. GLOBAL WATCH PARTIES GATHER TO SEE THE UNVEILING OF THE NEW GALACTIC BEAUTY SHOTS ALL FROM THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE LAUNCHED JUST MORE THAN SIX MONTHS AGO. IT COMES AFTER PRESIDENT BIDEN RELEASED THE VERY FIRST IMAGE MONDAY SHOWING A GALAXY CLUSTER. WE鈥橰E AT A TURNING POINT. THERE鈥橲 A UNIVERSE WE KNEW YESTERDAY. BEFORE WEB ANY UNIVERSE WE KNOW TODAY. TRYING TO SAY THE IMAGES UNLOCK THE MYSTERIES OF OUR UNIVERSE A SOUTHERN RING NEBULA THE REMAINS OF A STAR AFTER IT STOPPED BURNING WHAT LOOKS LIKE MOUNTAINS ON A MOONLIT EVENING IS THE EDGE OF A NEARBY YOUNG STAR-FORMING REGION CALLED COSMIC CLIFFS AND FIVE GALAXIES SHOWING NEVER BEFORE SEEN DETAILS. I THINK WE SHOULD ALL FEEL EXTREMELY FORTUNATE TO BE HERE AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME. AND ALL THIS IS HAPPENING IN THE BUILDING WHERE WE CONTROL THIS TECHNOLOGICAL MARVEL. FROM A MILLION MILES AWAY. TODAY IS GLORIOUS. IT IS SUCH AN ENORMOUS ACHIEVEMENT THAT WE鈥橵E BEEN PLANNING AND THE FIELD OF ASTRONOMY FOR OVER 20 YEARS. NOW, MY ENTIRE CAREER HAS BEEN BUILDING UP TO THIS MOMENT AFTER THE VIEWING SCIENTISTS RAISED A GLASS TO BRINGING THE HIDDEN UNIVERSE INTO VIEW. TODAY SHOWED US WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE FUTURE THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE THE FUTURE OF OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNIVERSE. AND YOU KNOW MY KIDS鈥� FUTURE THEY鈥橰E GONNA GROW UP WITH THESE NEW IMAGES AND THIS THIS NEW UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNIVERSE. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING. WE鈥橰E TOLD THAT THIS TELESCOPE WILL MAKE MAJOR DISCOVERIES FOR GENERATIONS TO COME I
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Expert explains new photos released from the James Webb Space Telescope
This week NASA released images from a new space telescope that has helped to expand our view of the universe. Anton Koekemoer with the Space Telescope Science Institute helped to put together different exposures from the James Webb Space Telescope that were released Monday and Tuesday. Watch the videos below to see him explain what we're seeing:PHOTO 1: The first photo that was released Monday shows a cluster of galaxies, Koekemoer said. "These are all the white galaxies in the foreground of this image, and they are actually quite distant. As it is, on the day of, the light has been traveling from this cluster of galaxies for a few billion years," he said.Koekemoer added that because the clusters are so massive, it鈥檚 sitting in what鈥檚 called a dark matter halo. "It's even more massive than the light we can see. And all of this mass is actually bending the light from more distant galaxies behind it," he said.PHOTO 2: Koekemoer said another photo explains the atmospheric composition of a hot gas giant exoplanet that has the chemical signature for water molecules. In this case, measurements provided by the Webb telescope showed the presence of steamy water vapors. He explained how scientists look at the starlight that is blocked as the planet passes in front of the star for insights. 鈥淎s the light passes through the atmosphere, these steam molecules 鈥� absorb the light. So you see these dips in the spectrum that correspond to different molecular bands, basically of these water molecules.鈥� He said this is a 鈥渧ery difficult, challenging observation to make.鈥漃HOTO 3:Koekemoer said another photo shows what happens when 鈥渦nstable鈥� stars are at the end of their life and gas expands away from the star. 鈥淭his whole ring of gas has basically been rejected by the star,鈥� he said of the image.PHOTO 4:The Stephan鈥檚 Quintet group of galaxies are close together and gravitationally bound to each other, he said. With Webb, you can see the outflow of gas from the black hole, he said. 鈥淯p until now we鈥檝e only been able to study this kind of process in the very local galaxies very close to our Milky Way,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ow we can begin to study this for distant black holes in the distant universe and try to understand how these black holes are formed, how the gas falls into them and how they grow.鈥漃HOTO 5:Another image shows a cloud of gas in our Milky Way galaxy.鈥淭his whole region is part of a much larger ring of star formation,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd we鈥檙e looking at a tiny piece of that.鈥� He said a star outside of the image is 鈥渓ighting up this whole landscape.鈥� The orange and rust-colored gas are dense clouds of 鈥渧ery cold molecular gas and dust,鈥� he said.

This week from a new space telescope that has helped to expand our view of the universe.

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Anton Koekemoer with the Space Telescope Science Institute helped to put together different exposures from the James Webb Space Telescope that were released Monday and Tuesday.

Watch the videos below to see him explain what we're seeing:

PHOTO 1:

The first photo that was released Monday shows a cluster of galaxies, Koekemoer said.

"These are all the white galaxies in the foreground of this image, and they are actually quite distant. As it is, on the day of, the light has been traveling from this cluster of galaxies for a few billion years," he said.

Koekemoer added that because the clusters are so massive, it鈥檚 sitting in what鈥檚 called a dark matter halo.

"It's even more massive than the light we can see. And all of this mass is actually bending the light from more distant galaxies behind it," he said.

PHOTO 2:

Koekemoer said another photo explains the atmospheric composition of a hot gas giant exoplanet that has the chemical signature for water molecules.

In this case, measurements provided by the Webb telescope showed the presence of steamy water vapors.

He explained how scientists look at the starlight that is blocked as the planet passes in front of the star for insights.

鈥淎s the light passes through the atmosphere, these steam molecules 鈥� absorb the light. So you see these dips in the spectrum that correspond to different molecular bands, basically of these water molecules.鈥�

He said this is a 鈥渧ery difficult, challenging observation to make.鈥�

PHOTO 3:

Koekemoer said another photo shows what happens when 鈥渦nstable鈥� stars are at the end of their life and gas expands away from the star.

鈥淭his whole ring of gas has basically been rejected by the star,鈥� he said of the image.

PHOTO 4:

The Stephan鈥檚 Quintet group of galaxies are close together and gravitationally bound to each other, he said.

With Webb, you can see the outflow of gas from the black hole, he said.

鈥淯p until now we鈥檝e only been able to study this kind of process in the very local galaxies very close to our Milky Way,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ow we can begin to study this for distant black holes in the distant universe and try to understand how these black holes are formed, how the gas falls into them and how they grow.鈥�

PHOTO 5:

Another image shows a cloud of gas in our Milky Way galaxy.

鈥淭his whole region is part of a much larger ring of star formation,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd we鈥檙e looking at a tiny piece of that.鈥�

He said a star outside of the image is 鈥渓ighting up this whole landscape.鈥�

The orange and rust-colored gas are dense clouds of 鈥渧ery cold molecular gas and dust,鈥� he said.