A team of astronomers has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to survey the starburst galaxy Messier 82 (M82). Located 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major, this galaxy is relatively compact in size but hosts a frenzy of star formation activity. For comparison, M82 is sprouting new stars 10 times faster than the Milky Way galaxy. Led by Alberto Bolatto at the University of Maryland, College Park, the team directed Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument...

What do margaritas, vinegar, and ant stings have in common? They contain chemical ingredients that NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has identified surrounding two young protostars known as IRAS 2A and IRAS 23385. Although planets are not yet forming around those stars, these and other molecules detected there by Webb represent key ingredients for making potentially habitable worlds. An international team of astronomers used Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) to identify a variety of icy...

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has found the best evidence yet for emission from a neutron star at the site of a recently observed supernova. The supernova, known as SN 1987A, was a core-collapse supernova, meaning the compacted remains at its core formed either a neutron star or a black hole. Evidence for such a compact object has long been sought, and while indirect evidence for the presence of a neutron star has previously been found, this is the first time that the effects of...

The discovery: A “super-Earth” ripe for further investigation orbits a small, reddish star that is, by astronomical standards, fairly close to us – only 137 light-years away. The same system also might harbor a second, Earth-sized planet. The bigger planet, dubbed TOI-715 b, is about one and a half times as wide as Earth, and orbits within the “conservative” habitable zone around its parent star. That’s the distance from the star that could give the planet the right temperature for liquid...

Webb Celebrates First Year of Science With Close-up on Birth of Sun-like Stars

The U.S. Postal Service has issued two new Priority Mail stamps celebrating NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the largest, most powerful, and most complex telescope ever put in space. The stamps, issued Jan. 22, feature images of the cosmos captured by Webb since it began its science mission in 2022. Webb is a mission led by NASA in partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). “NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is the perfect intersection of science,...

Researchers analyzing images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found that galaxies in the early universe are often flat and elongated, like surfboards and pool noodles – and are rarely round, like volleyballs or frisbees. “Roughly 50 to 80% of the galaxies we studied appear to be flattened in two dimensions,” explained lead author Viraj Pandya, a NASA Hubble Fellow at Columbia University in New York. “Galaxies that look like pool noodles or surfboards seem to be very common in the...

James Webb - Planet Uranus - NASA

James Webb Update for December 18 2023

The latest image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows a portion of the dense center of our galaxy in unprecedented detail, including never-before-seen features astronomers have yet to explain. The star-forming region, named Sagittarius C (Sgr C), is about 300 light-years from the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*. Amid the estimated 500,000 stars in the image is a cluster of protostars – stars that are still forming and gaining mass – producing outflows that...

The Crab Nebula Seen in New Light by NASA’s Webb and Exquisite, never-before-seen details help unravel the supernova remnant’s puzzling history. From the NASA Webb Telescope Team And for October 30, 2023 NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has gazed at the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. Since the recording of this energetic event in 1054 CE by 11th-century astronomers, the Crab Nebula has continued to draw attention and additional...

Webb’s study of the second-brightest gamma-ray burst ever seen reveals tellurium.A team of scientists has used multiple space and ground-based telescopes, including NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, and NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, to observe an exceptionally bright gamma-ray burst, GRB 230307A, and identify the neutron star merger that generated an explosion that created the burst. Webb also helped scientists detect the chemical element...

Welcome to The James Webb Space Telescope, a podcast about the most powerful telescope ever built. I'm your host, and in today's episode, we're talking about how the public can get involved with the James Webb Space Telescope. There are many ways for the public to get involved with the James Webb Space Telescope. One way is to follow the telescope's social media accounts. The James Webb Space Telescope has a presence on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. On these platforms, you can...

Welcome to The James Webb Space Telescope podcast. I'm your host. Today, we're going to talk about the James Webb Space Telescope and the future of astronomy. This revolutionary telescope is set to launch later this year, and it has the potential to change the way we study the universe. How will the James Webb Space Telescope change the way we study the universe? The James Webb Space Telescope is the most powerful telescope ever built. It is much larger and more sensitive than the Hubble...

The James Webb Space Telescope and the Early Universe Welcome to The James Webb Space Telescope podcast, where we explore the latest discoveries from the world's most powerful telescope. In today's episode, we're going to be talking about the early universe, and how the James Webb Space Telescope is helping us to understand this mysterious time period. The James Webb Space Telescope is a powerful infrared telescope that can see the light from the very first stars and galaxies that formed in...

Welcome to The James Webb Telescope podcast. I'm your host. In this episode, we'll be talking about the James Webb Space Telescope and its role in the search for exoplanets. What are exoplanets? Exoplanets are planets that orbit stars other than our Sun. Scientists have discovered thousands of exoplanets in recent years, and they believe that there may be billions of them in our galaxy alone. How can the James Webb Space Telescope help us find and study exoplanets? The James Webb Space...

Welcome back to The James Webb Telescope podcast. I'm your host. In this episode, we're going to talk about the latest news and discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope. Webb is still in its early days of operation, but it has already made some incredible discoveries. One of the most exciting discoveries so far is the image of the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. This image, known as Webb's First Deep Field, shows galaxies that existed just 600...

Welcome to The James Webb Space Telescope Podcast Introduction Episode. The James Webb Telescope is a space telescope specifically designed to conduct infrared astronomy. It is the largest and most powerful telescope ever built, and it is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. Webb was launched on December 25, 2021, and it reached its final orbit around the Sun in January 2022. Webb is so important because it will allow us to see the universe in a whole new light. Infrared light is able...