How The James Webb Space Telescope Transformed Astronomy This Year - LAist

One twelvemonth ago, the James Webb Space Telescope began its travel done space.

"JWST was launched connected Christmas day, and past was a contiguous that took six months to unwrap," said Jane Rigby, an astronomer astatine NASA and the Operations Project Scientist.

After an archetypal calibration period, the scope started collecting data. And the archetypal results amazed astronomers.

"I downloaded the data, and I'm like, sitting successful my pajamas...you know, it's pandemic, we're each moving from home," Rigby said. "I pulled down those data, and conscionable started paging done them, pouring done them. And it was truthful beautiful."

The scope is lone 5 months into its subject mission, and it's already transforming astronomy. The telescope's instruments person allowed it to seizure antecedently unobservable planets, stars and galaxies adjacent and far.

NPR spoke with 3 astronomers successful antithetic disciplines of astronomy astir however JWST is advancing probe successful their country of expertise. They each hold JWST is simply a crippled changer, and that there's plentifulness much groundbreaking probe inactive to come

"The ringing systems conscionable popular close out, and they're gorgeous"

Heidi Hammel is simply a planetary astronomer and an interdisciplinary idiosyncratic connected the JWST Project. She joined the squad successful 2002 due to the fact that she wanted to survey the satellite Neptune.

In September, JWST trained its mirrors connected the crystal giant.

"When I archetypal saw the representation connected my machine screen, I was truthful emotional," Hammel said. "I archetypal started crying, and past I started shouting and calling each my relatives to travel look astatine this picture!"

Prior to JWST, Hammel said, astronomers had ne'er intelligibly observed Neptune's ringing system. The Voyager spacecraft flew past Neptune successful 1989, but could lone seizure the brightest parts of the planet's rings.

JWST's instruments spotted the rings with unmatched clarity.

"Boom! The ringing systems conscionable popular close out, and they're gorgeous," Hammel said.

"Like stepping retired of a virtual world into the existent world"

Outside of our ain star system, JWST has besides helped astronomers observe the oldest and astir distant known galaxies.

"I've been looking astatine simulated data, trying to mimic what JWST would see, for galore years now. So erstwhile I archetypal saw the data, it was similar stepping retired of a virtual world into the existent world," said Brant Robertson, a prof of astronomy and astrophysics astatine the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Robertson is connected a squad of researchers who discovered the oldest galaxies ever observed. JWST's instruments allowed his squad to place galaxies up to 13.4 cardinal years aged – galaxies that would person formed little than 400 cardinal years aft the Big Bang, a tiny fraction of the universe's lifetime.

"By uncovering these precise aboriginal galaxies, we tin larn thing astir our history, astir the past of the beingness successful general, but besides specifically astir our home," said Robertson.

Robertson said that, portion older telescopes similar Hubble gave astronomers a glimpse of what was retired there, JWST has expanded the scope of what benignant of subject is possible.

"Pretty overmuch everything we're doing wasn't imaginable earlier this telescope"

Jane Rigby, JWST's Operations Project Scientist, is besides utilizing the scope to survey distant galaxies.

A people occurring improvement called gravitational lensing magnifies the airy from the galaxies Rigby is observing – combining that with JWST, she's been capable to chopped done cosmic particulate to survey however stars are forming successful these galaxies.

"Pretty overmuch everything we're doing wasn't imaginable earlier this telescope," Rigby said.

Hubble's instruments wouldn't person been capable to spot done the particulate obscuring these galaxies, Rigby said. Furthermore, JWST's instruments let her to survey the worldly creation of these galaxies done spectroscopy, a method astronomers commonly usage to place the chemic constitution of objects successful space.

"We're studying wherever stars are forming successful these lensed galaxies successful ways that are conscionable laughably not imaginable with immoderate different telescope," Rigby said.

JWST has already proven to beryllium an unthinkable instrumentality for astronomers, but its biggest discoveries are inactive yet to come, Rigby said.

"We're conscionable starting to get this flood of papers announcing discoveries," she said. JWST is being utilized to survey planets successful our ain star system, atmospheres of planets successful different star systems, however stars die, however galaxies evolve, and overmuch more, Rigby said.

And contempt JWST being importantly much almighty than erstwhile telescopes, Rigby says astronomers tin inactive usage Hubble to complement JWST's observations.

"In galore ways, JWST was built to bash the things that Hubble can't, truthful they play truly good together," Rigby said. "The pitcher and the catcher connected your shot squad bash antithetic things."

The scope has capable propellant onboard to past much than 20 years successful space, Rigby said, truthful it's imaginable it could outlive its planned minimum ngo of 5 years.

"I deliberation that adjacent twelvemonth is going to beryllium adjacent much breathtaking than this year," Rigby said.

After all, it volition instrumentality clip to sift done the information the James Webb Space Telescope collects and spot conscionable however overmuch it tin displacement our knowing of the universe's galore mysteries.