Earlier this year, JWST researchers reported on measurements built on last year’s confirmation based on Webb data that Hubble’s measurements of the expansion rate were accurate, at least for the first few “rungs” of the “cosmic distance ladder.” But there was still the possibility of as-yet-undetected errors that might increase the deeper (and hence further […]
Illustration of the Kepler-51 system and its inner three planets, which have unusually low density. New observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope suggest that at least one more planet is in the system. Credit: NASA, ESA, and L. Hustak, J. Olmsted, D. Player and F. Summers (STScI) An unusual planetary system with three known […]
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has discovered a handful of possible galaxies that could be among the earliest to ever exist. Located 13.6 billion light-years away and just 200 million years after the Big Bangthe five galaxy candidates are the earliest ever detected, and likely some of the first to have formed in the […]
RGB NIRCam image of Westerlund 1. Credit: arXiv (2024). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2411.13051 An international team of astronomers has employed the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe a supermassive Galactic open cluster known as Westerlund 1. Results of the observational campaign, presented in a paper published Nov. 20 on the arXiv preprint server, yield important insights […]
A supermassive mystery lurks at the center of the Milky Way. Supermassive black holes are gigantic ruptures in space-time that sit in the middle of many galaxies, periodically sucking in matter before spitting it out at near light speeds to shape how galaxies evolve. Yet how they came to be so enormous is a prevailing […]
From its halo-like orbit nearly a million miles from Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope is seeing farther than human eyes have ever seen. In May, astronomers announced that Webb detected the most distant galaxy found so far, a fuzzy blob of red light that we see as it existed just 290 million years after […]
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have peeked over the Milky Way’s back fence and found that there’s something strange about the stellar infants playing next door. While zooming in on the young star cluster NGC 602 in the nearby Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), the researchers spotted what may be the first evidence […]
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has spotted a strange “inside-out” galaxy at the beginning of the universe. The galaxy, named JADES-GS+53.18343−27.79097, existed just 700 million years after the Big Bang and is roughly 100 times smaller than the Milky Way. Yet, unlike most galaxies, its growth seems to have occurred inside-out — with stars […]
What it is: super star cluster Westerlund 1 Where it is: 12,000 light-years away in the constellation Ara. When it was shared: Oct. 3, 2024 Why it’s so special: Westerlund 1 is a galactic factory of epic proportions. Visible from Earth’s Southern Hemisphere just below the tail of the Scorpion — and close to the […]
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the largest and most powerful space telescope built to date. Since it was launched in December 2021 it has provided groundbreaking insights. These include discovering the earliest and most distant known galaxies, which existed just 300 million years after the Big Bang. Distant objects are also very ancient […]
