In pictures: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope celebrated on World Photography Day
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World Photography Day arrived on Friday — but this year's global event comes in the wake of some beautiful images from beyond Earth.
The dawn of a new era in astronomy has begun as the world gets its first look at the full capabilities of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, a partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency), NASA wrote on July 12, 2022.
During a live webcast from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the telescope's first full-color photos and spectroscopic data were made public.
The NASA-built James Webb satellite telescope is mostly used for infrared astronomy. It can study objects that are too early, far away, or dark for the Hubble Orbit Telescope, the largest optical telescope in orbit, due to its exceptional infrared resolution and sensitivity.
On this World Photography Day, Interesting Engineering presents some of the most stunning photographs from the largest telescope in the world.
The photographs mark the beginning of Webb's general science activities, as well as the wave of full-color scientific images and spectra the observatory has collected.
These photos taken by the biggest and most potent satellite telescope in the world show Webb at its most potent, ready to start its mission of exploring the infrared universe.
The Carina Nebula stunned observers when NASA released images of the ancient universe.
The Webb team completed the "fine phasing" stage of alignment on March 11. At this critical stage in the commissioning of Webb's Optical Telescope Element, every optical parameter had been checked and tested is performing at or above expectations.
The test image was aimed at a star 2,000 light-years away that was 100 times fainter than the human eye can see.
"Webb’s new view gives us a rare peek into stars in their earliest, rapid stages of formation. For an individual star, this period only lasts about 50,000 to 100,000 years," NASA said at the time of the images' release.
"Because JWST is tuned for near-infrared, it sees these galaxies more like they were back when they emitted the light we're seeing today: bright, vibrant, and colorful," astronomer Matthew Kerr told Interesting Engineering in July.
It wasn't only nebulae on display. Stephan's Quintet, a grouping of five galaxies, also impressed onlookers.
"It's hard not to be overwhelmed with a sense of awe," professor Mile Boylan-Kolchin, from the University of Texas, told Interesting Engineering in July.
The cloud above, located around 200,000 light-years from Earth, is described by NASA as a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.
The Solar System's largest planet was also captured in impressive detail.
The images show a marked improvement over the Hubble Space Telescope, demonstrating the boost that came from decades of research and development.
Which is your favorite James Webb image?
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