![]() The Webb data were not collected for a deep field project per se. Webb needed less than one day to to detect galaxies of similar faintness. Providing a taste of deep field images to come, Webb took a brief look at the same area imaged in the Hubble Deep Field, using the infrared telescope’s NIRCam instrument. Now, with the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers are observing the oldest galaxies ever detected. ![]() Subsequent “deep field” images pushed the threshold back even farther in space and time. When the Hubble Space Telescope was aimed at a presumably empty spot in the sky for 10 days in 1995, astronomers were stunned to find some 3,000 never before seen galaxies, some dating back to the infancy of the cosmos. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Christina Williams (NSF’s NOIRLab) image processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) The Webb image took just 0.83 days to capture while Hubble needed 11.3 days. ![]() Some of these could potentially be the most distant galaxies, where the light has taken the longest to reach us.The same field of view as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope (left) and the James Webb Space Telescope (right). The field is also scattered with some faint red objects, which are already attracting attention by experts. For point-like objects, Webb is expected to be beyond 100 times more sensitive than Hubble, and this definitely demonstrates that. We can see similarly amazing details all over the deep field. They are likely individual star clusters in the extremely distant, tiny galaxy. This arc was barely detected by Hubble, but Webb sees the “beads on a string” clearly. This little sliver demonstrates Webb’s power. It’s located several times further than the SMACS-0723 cluster.īut our eyes were drawn more to the very thin arc just above (marked with arrows). The enlarged images above portray a region in the deep field containing a spiral galaxy astronomers have affectionately been calling “The Slug”. Adapted from images by NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI This is a zoomed-in area of the Webb deep field. It’s also useful for studying fascinating sources such as planets going around nearby stars, and the regions where stars form.Ī comparison of Webb (left) and Hubble (right) in their view of the same region. This is especially important to study the early universe due to “ cosmological redshift”, a process which refers to the stretching of light (with the expansion of the universe) as it travels across cosmic space. Webb can also see far redder infrared wavelengths, opening up a new view on the universe. Its large mirror helps it produce images that are two to three times sharper than Hubble’s, and which go much deeper into space (which means it can see fainter sources). It seems the bar has been raised once again, and Webb is set to herald a new age for astronomy and space research. Back in those days, we were analysing the first Hubble images of the distant universe, and the details they revealed were shocking compared to anything we’d seen in ground-based images. This is something we have both been waiting on for nearly 25 years. Today we saw the release of the first batch of images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.
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