Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Everything has to work perfectly on the first attempt, which is one of the reasons why it took NASA the best part of two decades to get Webb launched. Unlike its predecessor, Webb isn't easily reachable by a repair team of astronauts if it breaks down. This gives Webb a much clearer view of the universe than the one Hubble has in low-Earth orbit, but it does have a downside. Related: How many satellites orbit Earth?įollowing in the footsteps of ESA's Herschel infrared observatory, the Webb telescope is located nearly 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth at the so-called L2 point, according to NASA's JWST website. So the best place for an infrared telescope is out in space, as far as possible from the Earth and all its unwanted sources of heat. On top of that, the Earth produces its own infrared emissions via heat radiation, which tend to swamp the fainter astronomical sources.
But infrared poses problems for Earth-based telescopes, because much of it is blocked by our planet's atmosphere, according to the University of St Andrews. (Image credit: NASA)įor many astronomical objects, including star-forming regions, exoplanets and the most distant galaxies, these very long wavelengths are more useful to astronomers than the visible spectrum. James Webb, after whom the telescope is named, was NASA administrator in the 1960s.
James webb vs hubble images plus#
So it can't see green or blue light, just orange and red - plus a wide range of longer wavelengths beyond that. Hubble spanned all of this, plus a little way into the ultraviolet at shorter wavelengths and infrared at longer ones.īut the JWST is primarily an infrared telescope, optimized for 600 to 28,000 nm, according to NASA's JWST website. Ordinary optical telescopes see in the same part of the spectrum as our own eyes, covering a range of wavelengths between roughly 380 and 740 nanometers (nm), as Live Science has previously reported. Related: How are asteroids and space debris detected before they hit Earth? While it is both those things - with more than two and a half times the diameter and a hundred times the sensitivity - at its heart the JWST is a different type of instrument altogether. NASA is keen to emphasize that Webb isn't simply a bigger and more powerful telescope than Hubble. Nevertheless, the scientists involved in the project believe the results will more than compensate for the time and money invested in it. Building the telescope cost nearly $10 billion, almost doubling the estimated cost since 2009, according to the U.S.
However, these estimates turned out to be over-optimistic, given the enormously complex and innovative design of the spacecraft. Webb was originally planned to cost half a billion dollars and be ready for launch in 2007, the Atlantic reported. (Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images) 25, 2021, Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket launches with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope onboard, from the ELA-3 Launch Zone of Europes Spaceport at the Guiana Space Centre at Europes Spaceport, at the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana.
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