The James Webb Space Telescope has been made fully operational and has sent back SPECTACULAR images from space!
In fact, the telescope is seeing as far back in time as we have ever seen.
Truly amazing!
Below are a few of those pictures. Go to this web site for a lot more information on these pictures. I grabbed some of the words from that web site…..
James Webb Space Telescope First Images
“Status: 1st Image Released 7/12/22 ~10:39am EDT
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail”
“Status: 1st Image Released 7/12/22 ~11:01am
Some stars save the best for last.
The dimmer star at the center of this scene has been sending out rings of gas and dust for thousands of years in all directions, and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed for the first time that this star is cloaked in dust.
Two cameras aboard Webb captured the latest image of this planetary nebula, cataloged as NGC 3132, and known informally as the Southern Ring Nebula. It is approximately 2,500 light-years away.”
“Status: 1st Image Released 7/12/22 ~11:13am
Stephan’s Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies, is best known for being prominently featured in the holiday classic film, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Today, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals Stephan’s Quintet in a new light. This enormous mosaic is Webb’s largest image to date, covering about one-fifth of the Moon’s diameter. It contains over 150 million pixels and is constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files. The information from Webb provides new insights into how galactic interactions may have driven galaxy evolution in the early universe.”
“Status: 1st Image Released 7/12/22 ~11:22am
This landscape of ‘mountains’ and ‘valleys’ speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth.
Called the Cosmic Cliffs, Webb’s seemingly three-dimensional picture looks like craggy mountains on a moonlit evening. In reality, it is the edge of the giant, gaseous cavity within NGC 3324, and the tallest ‘peaks’ in this image are about 7 light-years high. The cavernous area has been carved from the nebula by the intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from extremely massive, hot, young stars located in the center of the bubble, above the area shown in this image”
James Webb Space Telecope STEM / STEAM Toolkit
As the space telescope continues it’s journey, I found this STEM Toolkit link for teachers and students that might be really helpful as you follow the progress of the JWST.
A few of the tools at that web site include:
>About the James Webb Space Telescope
>Grades K-5 and Grades 6-12 Projects / Experiments
>Lesson Plans
>Print and Post Photos and Posters
>Multimedia
>Videos
>Social Media Links
Here is an example of a video from their Youtube channel:
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math ROCK!
Drive Safe! Never Forget.
More STEM / STEAM….
ForCarol: Drive Safe! Never Forget 