The unexpected science you missed from James Webb's first drawing

On July 11 and 12, 2022, humanity steps into the future.

This near-perfect composite of images shows a field view in the first JWST of the SMACS 0723 cluster core and compares it to the older Hubble view. Looking at image details that are not in the Hubble data but are in the JWST data show us how much potential discovery awaits JWST scientists.

(Sources: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI; NASA/ESA/Hubble (STScI); composite by E. Siegel)

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has released its first scientific image, revealing the Universe in unprecedented light.

This enhanced view of JWST’s first deep-field image of the cosmos better exposes the brightest galaxies and cluster centers to bring out the details found in the fainter, redder, and more distant galaxies. This first in-field view took only half a day to get with JWST. With 20+ years of data to come, we can only imagine what will unfold.

(Sources: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI; Processed by E. Siegel)

The first image is an inner-field view of the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, whose gravity magnifies the background object.

A number of very different objects in the JWST SMACS 0723 image were revealed, and the power of spectroscopy allowed us to determine exactly how far apart they are and how far their light is stretched by the expansion of the Universe. This is a powerful demonstration of JWST’s capabilities, as well as an illustration of the capabilities of gravity lenses.

(Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)

Containing objects from across cosmic history, it sees a deeper, wider field of view ahead.

A portion of the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field that was imaged over a total of 23 days, in contrast to the simulated appearance that James Webb expected in infrared. With extensive mosaics such as COSMOS-Web and PANORRAMIC, the latter taking advantage of purely parallel observations, to come, we must not only break cosmic records for the most distant galaxies, but must learn about what luminous objects were the earliest in the universe. The universe looks like.

(Credit: NASA/ESA and Hubble/HUDF team; JADES collaboration for NIRCam simulation)

But three other targets were also observed with the imager, revealing an unexpected and never-before-seen galaxy.

This three-panel image shows a view of the Carina Nebula’s “cosmic cliffs” as seen by Hubble (top), JWST’s NIRCam instrument (center), and JWST’s MIRI instrument (bottom). With the release of its first science to us, this new era in astronomy has truly arrived.

(Sources: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI; NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))

The Carina Nebula, located within the Milky Way, is a dusty region rich in gas and stars.

Although difficult to identify with the eye, there are many galaxies that can be seen poking through the Cosmic Cliff clouds in the Carina Nebula. Many of them have been manually circled here on a cropped image of the JWST NIRCam instrument.

(Sources: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI, processed by E. Siegel)

But many galaxies emerge through obscuring matter.

On the less dusty side of the Cosmic Cliff in the Carina Nebula, a number of faint, elongated objects can be identified among the shimmering stars that inhabit most of this region of space. Even in the galactic plane, where stellar densities are greatest and neutral matter abounds, background galaxies abound, and will likely appear in nearly every future JWST image.

(Sources: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI, processed by E. Siegel)

Even in this dense region of our galaxy, the Universe beyond can be seen at a glance.

Overlaid with (older) Hubble data, the JWST NIRCam images of the Southern Ring Nebula are clearly superior in many ways: resolution, revealed detail, outer gas levels, etc. This is truly a spectacular revelation of how stars like the Sun end their lives.

(Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)

The Southern Ring Nebula, a dying Sun-like star within our own galaxy, also reveals the source of the background.

Even where dying stellar debris in our own galaxy is most luminous and feature-rich, many background galaxies can be identified, penetrating the light-blocking dust at infrared wavelengths.

(Sources: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI, processed by E. Siegel)

Some galaxies poke through the nebula’s thin tendrils.

Beyond the faint structure of the Southern Ring Nebula, a chasm of empty space is exposed by JWST’s NIRCam imager. A large number of galaxies and prospective galaxies can be identified, even by hand. Many of these objects have never been seen before, demonstrating JWST’s power to reveal hitherto unknown Universes, even when that wasn’t the science goal of the imaging campaign.

(Sources: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI, processed by E. Siegel)

Others are rich occupying space along its periphery.

This non-annotated portion of the JWST NIRCam instrument’s view of the Southern Ring Nebula reveals the nebula’s rim, a series of many spiny stars, and an entire extended object that can be identified as a background galaxy. In every region of space imaged by NIRCam, galaxies await.

(Sources: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)

In every direction and location, there is something spectacular to expose.

Contrasting Hubble’s view of Stephan’s Quintet with this view of JWST’s NIRCam reveals a series of features that are barely visible or not at all obvious with a more limited range of shorter wavelengths. The differences between the images highlight what features JWST can reveal that Hubble is missing. Despite the beauty and awe this image provides, there is no known planetary system, in our own galaxy or in any other galaxy, where humans can survive as we do on Earth.

(Sources: NASA, ESA, and Hubble SM4 ERO Team; NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)

But Stephan JWST’s Quintet pictures are the most enlightening.

Beyond the five main member galaxies that make up Stephan’s Quintet, the JWST NIRCam view shows thousands of additional galaxies in the background, hundreds of which can be seen here and many of which have never been previously identified by other instruments or observatories.

(Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)

Galaxies of all colors,

The color and shape of the galaxy revealed here by the NIRCam JWST is determined not only by the intrinsic color and shape of the galaxy and the stars within it, but also by the cosmological redshift and cumulative distortion imprinted by all the foreground masses. The resolution of this background galaxy is unprecedented.

(Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)

form,

This incredibly rich region of space was captured while viewing Quintet Stephan with the JWST NIRCam instrument. Many of these galaxies are clustered together in real space, while others just happen to align along the same line of sight. Area grouping analyzes like this, many of which JWST will reveal in great detail, can provide a large amount of additional knowledge on top of what was planned.

(Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)

and grouping patterns,

And just as there are many regions of space that have been imaged that are too dense in terms of the number of galaxies and the total mass in that region, there are also regions such as the void that are less dense. JWST can reveal it all, wherever its infrared eye turns.

(Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)

can be seen everywhere.

This region, which lies on the outskirts of the star-forming region caused by the interactions of several galaxy members within the Stephan Quintet, reveals a great deal of detail about the formation of nearby stars in these galaxies, as well as revealing the background galaxies as well. The adage, “one astronomer’s voice is another astronomer’s data” is fully displayed here, because extragalactic and star astronomers of all kinds can have field days with what has been revealed in only this one region of space.

(Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)

We have long said, “one astronomer’s voice is another astronomer’s data.”

The MIRI display from Stephan’s Quintet displays features that cannot be seen at other wavelengths. The uppermost galaxy – NGC 7319 – has a supermassive black hole 24 million times the mass of the Sun. It actively adds matter and gives off the equivalent of 40 billion Suns of light energy. MIRI looks through the dust surrounding this black hole to reveal the very bright core of an active galaxy. It’s very bright, in MIRI’s eyes, it even has the distinctive JWST “spike” pattern.

(Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)

For scientists studying galaxies, every upcoming JWST image contains a potential treasure trove.

The first smooth-phase image ever released by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows a single star image, complete with six prominent (and two less prominent) diffraction spikes, with a background star and galaxy revealed behind it. The background galaxy is a surprise to astronomers; JWST imaged the Universe with twice the performance precision specified for its design. Even images like these, which were not originally designed for scientific purposes, may be useful to astronomers studying the Universe as a unique and unexpected source of data.

(Source: NASA/STScI)

Mostly Mute Monday tells the story of astronomy in pictures, visuals and no more than 200 words. Talk less; smile more.

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