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Astronomer right here! That is SUCH an odd however fantastic day (initially of an odd and fantastic week)- I’ve actually been listening to about JWST for almost all of my life, since I used to be a youngster first getting serious about astronomy, and to see that we are actually actually within the JWST period is mind-boggling! Not gonna lie, I believe a cynical a part of me thought one thing would go unsuitable and we would not get right here… and never solely seeing the pictures, however having such immense delight for the people who made this potential, is simply so emotional. 🙂
To reply a number of fast questions I’ve seen round:
What’s the picture of?
A galaxy discipline referred to as SMACS 0723, positioned 4.6 billion gentle years away. What’s extra, due to the orientation of the foreground galaxies we get to see some actually zany gravitational lensing of sunshine from galaxies a lot additional away on this field- about 13 billion years, to be exact! So these are all very younger galaxies, all shaped just some hundred thousand years after the Huge Bang. Unimaginable! And wow, by no means seen galaxies like these lensed ones before- very Salvador Dali, if I’ll say so. 😀
Those that seem to have white gentle are those creating the lensing 5-ish billion gentle years away, and the reddish ones are the lensed ones. (A minimum of, I am fairly positive that is the way it works as a normal rule of thumb.) Right here is Hubble’s view of the identical discipline by comparability, courtesy of /u/NX1 downthread.
Additionally notice, JWST is an infrared telescope (ie, gentle extra crimson than crimson) as a result of its first science precedence was to detect the earliest galaxies (it has been below growth so lengthy exoplanets frankly weren’t the large factor they’re now), and by the point the sunshine from the earliest galaxies reaches us, it has been “redshifted” to those wavelengths. So earlier than you could not see these lensed galaxies with Hubble, and to see them not to mention in such element is astounding!
Fairly! Is there scientific worth to it?
Sure! The factor to appreciate is even with these very first pictures, as a result of JWST is ready to see intimately no telescope has had earlier than there is a ton of low hanging fruit. Within the case of this picture, one of many large excellent questions is a characteristic referred to as the UV luminosity operate, which tells you the star formation price in these early galaxies. If you happen to actually simply depend up the variety of galaxies you see in these first JWST pictures, you may already know extra concerning the star formation price within the early universe than we do now! Additional, if you research the gravitational lensing sample, you possibly can study these foreground galaxies- issues like their mass, and the way the darkish matter is distributed round them. OMG that is gonna be so neat!
I would like extra JWST pictures in my life! What’s subsequent?
There’s a press convention tomorrow at 10:30am! On the press convention there shall be a number of extra pictures revealed, from the Carina Nebula to Stephan’s Quintet (hyperlinks go to the Hubble pictures to get you psyched). There may also be some information revealed, akin to the primary exoplanet spectrum taken by JWST- notice, exoplanet spectra have been accomplished earlier than scientifically, however the sign to noise of JWST permits this to be accomplished to larger accuracy than earlier than. (No, this isn’t going to have a signature from life- it is a fuel large exoplanet, and it is protected to say if it had a signature from life Biden would have revealed that in the present day.)
Fairly footage apart, can I entry the precise science information? And when will we see the primary JWST footage?
The JWST archive shall be launched with all of the commissioning information for these pictures on Wednesday, July 13 at 11am EDT, with the primary Early Launch Science packages’ information going up on Thursday. Particularly for the latter, there are “early launch science” packages that are going to be prioritized over the primary three months (checklist right here) the place these information are going to be instantly obtainable to the general public, so everybody can get a soar begin on a number of the science. (Additionally, the subsequent cycle of JWST proposals is in January, so that is going to be actually essential for individuals making use of for that.) My understanding from my colleague is there are numerous individuals within the sub-field of early galaxies who actually have a paper draft able to go and intend to get the preprints out ASAP (like, inside hours), simply because there shall be a lot low hanging fruit for that discipline in these very first pictures! Like, I will be shocked if they don’t seem to be out by the tip of the week, and the place to see these first science papers are on the ArXiv (updates at 0:00 UTC).
You may be taught extra concerning the JWST archive right here.
How did they determine what to look at anyway?
As is the case for all NASA telescopes, anybody on the planet can apply for JWST time! You simply want to put in writing a proposal justifying why your concept is best than anybody else’s, and nicely sufficient {that a} panel of astronomers agrees. In apply, it is actually aggressive, and about 4.5x extra hours have been requested than there are literal hours for JWST to look at (truly approach higher than Hubble which has been nearer to 10x- Hubble can solely observe on the night time half of the Earth’s orbit, however JWST has a solar shade so that you get virtually nonstop observing). The ensuing proposals that received out are all part of “Cycle 1” which begins this week, and you’ll learn all about them right here. (Cycle 1 consists of the Early Launch Science tasks I mentioned above.)
As an apart, whereas I’m not personally concerned in it (I am extra on the radio astronomy aspect of issues) I am tremendous excited as a result of my group has JWST time! We’re going to observe what’s prone to be the primary neutron star merger noticed by JWST- I very a lot hope to have the ability to look over the shoulder of the man answerable for the venture kind factor. 🙂 As a result of we don’t know on when that’s going to occur, we principally have the proper to request JWST observations if we see a sign referred to as a brief gamma-ray burst that tells us one in every of these occasions has occurred, and so they’ll change the schedule to squeeze us in as quickly as they will (in all probability per week or two, with sooner flip round in future years). At any time when it occurs, I am positive I will let you know guys all about it! 😀
Anyway, a toast to JWST- and if anybody who works on it’s studying this, we’re all so pleased with you! I am unable to wait to see the place this new journey takes us!
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