![]() ![]() Webb - the largest and most powerful astronomical observatory ever launched into space - has been churning out cosmic beauty shots for the past year. It “presents star birth as an impressionistic masterpiece,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a tweet. Some of the stars display shadows indicating possible planets in the making, according to NASA. With no stars in the foreground of the photo, NASA noted, the details stand out all the more. This cloud complex, known as Rho Ophiuchi, is the closest star-forming region to Earth and is found in the sky near the border of the constellations Ophiuchus and Scorpius, the serpent-bearer and scorpion. The Vatican in 1992 acknowledged Galileo was wronged. On Earth in 1633, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei went on trial in Rome for saying that the Earth revolved around the sun. Smith pointed out that the starlight visible in the image actually left there 390 years ago. ![]() “It's like a glimpse of what our own system would have looked like billions of years ago when it was forming,” NASA program scientist Eric Smith told The Associated Press. Scientists said the breathtaking shot provides the best clarity yet of this brief phase of a star's life. The region is relatively small and quiet yet full of illuminated gases, jets of hydrogen and even dense cocoons of dust with the delicate beginnings of even more stars.Īll of the young stars appear to be no bigger than our sun. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles (9.7 trillion kilometers). NASA unveiled the latest snapshot Wednesday, revealing 50 baby stars in a cloud complex 390 light-years away. (AP) - The Webb Space Telescope is marking one year of cosmic photographs with one of its best yet: the dramatic close-up of dozens of stars at the moment of birth. For the project’s supporters, it’s worth every minute of work and every penny spent-because it means the chance to learn more about the universe’s history, understand how galaxies form, witness the birth of stars and explore whether other planets could support life.CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. They are now envisioning a 2021 launch and $9.66 billion total budget. Back in the 1990s, scientists thought it could be finished for only $500 million by 2007. ![]() So, understandably, the project has hit some delays. The Webb is a complex, ambitious project requiring entirely new systems-including a sunshield longer than two tractor-trailers. That’s why the Webb telescope, which will travel further outside earth’s orbit than any telescope ever has before, is designed to see the universe at infrared wavelengths. By the time this light reaches us, it has shifted into red wavelengths that are invisible to the human eye. Astronomers believe that peering through a telescope to see light from the first stars and galaxies would effectively mean looking back 13.6 billion years into the past. From earth, we see the sun as it was eight minutes ago and the next closest star system, Alpha Centauri, as it was over four years ago. What if you could travel back in time to learn about the era when galaxies were first starting to form? That’s what the James Webb Space Telescope-a collaborative project between NASA and the European and Canadian space agencies- will be able to do when it’s finished.īecause of the way light travels, when we look at stars from our vantage point, we see them as they used to be, not as they really are now. ![]()
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