![]() Individual “pods” of star formation practically bloom within some of the most distant galaxies – the clearest, most detailed views of star clusters in the early Universe so far. Very diffuse galaxies appear like collections of loosely bound dandelion seeds aloft in a breeze. Webb has refined the level of detail we can observe throughout this field. Others appear scattered by interactions with other galaxies, leaving trails of stars behind them. Not all galaxies in this field are mirrored – some are stretched. Webb’s image has fully revealed their bright cores, which are filled with stars, along with orange star clusters along their edges. These are lensed galaxies – each individual galaxy is shown twice in one arc. The combined mass of the galaxies and dark matter act as a cosmic telescope, creating magnified, contorted, and sometimes mirrored images of individual galaxies.Ĭlear examples of mirroring are found in the prominent orange arcs to the left and right of the brightest cluster galaxy. Bound together by gravity in a galaxy cluster, they are bending the light from galaxies that appear in the vast distances behind them. Researchers will soon begin to learn more about the galaxies’ masses, ages, histories, and compositions, as Webb seeks the earliest galaxies in the Universe.įirst, focus on the galaxies responsible for the lensing: the bright white elliptical galaxy at the centre of the image and smaller white galaxies throughout the image. Webb’s NIRCam has brought those distant galaxies into sharp focus – they have tiny, faint structures that have never been seen before, including star clusters and diffuse features. The combined mass of this galaxy cluster acts as a gravitational lens, magnifying much more distant galaxies behind it. The image shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago. This deep field, taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), is a composite made from images at different wavelengths, totaling 12.5 hours – achieving depths at infrared wavelengths beyond the Hubble Space Telescope’s deepest fields, which took weeks. This slice of the vast Universe is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground. Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – have appeared in Webb’s view for the first time. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail. Read about the remarkable rescue here.The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant Universe to date. In order to continue flying the spacecraft, engineers had to reinvent ways to restore communication and get the spacecraft back on its way. The spacecraft came back from a near-death experienceĪn essential piece of hardware called a star tracker failed in November 1999, and DS1 went into a minimal-activity state called safe mode. Other science data showed intriguing similarities between Braille and Vesta, the planet-like world NASA’s Dawn spacecraft orbited from 2011 to 2012. Although photos DS1 sent back were fuzzy, the encounter proved that DS1’s ion engine was capable of taking the spacecraft to a destination far beyond Earth. ![]() But in 1999, DS1 completed a flyby of asteroid 9969 Braille. In the technology demonstration phase of the mission, taking pictures of anything at all was considered an optional bonus. Since then, many NASA missions such as Dawn, Kepler, Spitzer, and OSIRIS-REx have used the Small Deep Space Transponder. ![]() The transponder combined several functions that had previously required multiple devices, and therefore more weight. Many other missions used the same communications device as DS1Ī compact device called the Small Deep Space Transponder for communications with spacecraft beyond the Moon was first tested with DS1. Components of the Remote Agent software have inspired or directly supported aspects of other NASA missions, including the twin Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the Mars Phoenix lander and the Curiosity Mars rover. Remote Agent was also an advancement in artificial intelligence in spaceĭS1’s Remote Agent system demonstrated the spacecraft could make its own planning decisions and detect and diagnose other problems. Artist concept of a Mars Exploration Rover.
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