NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured what the space agency says is one of the first medium-deep wide-field images of the universe. The new image is from the Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and Lensing Science (PEARLS) GTO program.
Medium-deep refers to the faintest objects that can be seen in the image, which are about one billion times fainter than what can be observed with the naked eye. The image consists of eight different colours of near-infrared light captured by Webb telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera instrument). It is also augmented with three colours of ultraviolet and visible light captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.
“For over two decades, I’ve worked with a large international team of scientists to prepare our Webb science program. Webb’s images are truly phenomenal, really beyond my wildest dreams. They allow me to measure the number density of galaxies shining to very faint infrared limits and the total amount of light they produce,” said Rogier Windhorst, PEARLS principal investigator, in a press statement. Rogers is a professor at Arizona State University (ASU).
According to NASA, the image reveals a universe full of galaxies far away from Earth in unprecedented detail and exquisite depth. Many of these galaxies were previously unseen by Hubble and many of the largest ground-based telescopes. The research team behind the new study published in the Astronomical Journal will be combined these NIRCam observations with spectra data taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Imager and the Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS).
Galactic panoramic 📸
This shot is just a portion of what will be the complete wide field covered by this Webb program, but it’s already unveiling galaxies in unprecedented detail and depth. The multi-wavelength image combines Webb & @NASAHubble data: https://t.co/Ft8QkhWJPt pic.twitter.com/VHjdUR6ans
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) December 14, 2022
According to the researchers, Webb’s performance has exceeded all their expectations, especially at the shortest near-infrared wavelengths. This has also allowed for unplanned discoveries.
Subscriber Only Stories
Premium
Premium
PremiumThe image depicts an expanse of the sky that measures about two per cent of the area covered by a full moon. It depicts a portion of the full PEARLS field, which is about four times larger. The image contains thousands of galaxies over a large range in distance and time, some of them being imaged for the first time.
