NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) / X

NASA Webb Telescope

11.5K posts

NASA Webb Telescope

@NASAWebb

The Official *NASA* Webb X account. The world's most powerful space telescope. Launched: Dec. 25, 2021. First images revealed: July 12, 2022.

Lagrange Point 2

Joined April 2009

Pinned
NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
Jun 16
Webb teamed up with @NASAHubble to examine a relic from our galaxy’s formation. This object might look like a globular cluster of stars, but is actually something much odder and rarer - a “bulge fossil fragment.” science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/…
$A dramatically crowded starfield that looks like a just-shaken snow globe. The black background of space, which is clearer at the edges, is covered by thousands of tiny white, orange, and blue points of light, which are stars. The stars are most concentrated in the center, forming a roughly circular orb, and sparser at the edges of the image. Several larger orange stars, particularly those largest near the edges of the frame, have prominent diffraction spikes.$
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
13h
Webb’s new view of M82, added to archival data from @NASAHubble, is giving us a more complete picture of this starburst galaxy. science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/…
$Composite image of edge-on spiral starburst galaxy Messier 82 as observed by NASA's James Webb and Hubble space telescopes. Hourglass-shaped plumes of gas are shooting outward from above and below a bright blue-white, disk-shaped center. The plumes are yellow near the galaxy’s bright center, denoting areas of ionized hydrogen gas as observed by Hubble, and gradually become redder as you move farther away. Messier 82 is set against the black background of space, which has many distant galaxies that appear as small white and orange spirals, ovals, and points of light. Toward the right of Messier 82 is a blue-white star with eight-pointed diffraction spikes that are characteristic of Webb.$
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
13h
Because Webb can see infrared light, it is able to peer through clouds of dust and gas to see the shape of this edge-on galaxy, as well as approximately 16.5 million of its stars.
$Edge-on spiral starburst galaxy Messier 82 as imaged by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Hourglass-shaped red-orange plumes of material are shooting outward from above and below a bright blue-white, disk-shaped center. Messier 82 is set against the black background of space, which has many distant galaxies that appear as small white and orange spirals, ovals, and points of light. Toward the right of Messier 82 is a blue-white star with eight-pointed diffraction spikes that are characteristic of Webb.$
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
13h
M82’s rapid star formation, thought to be the result of its merger with another galaxy, will only be a brief period in its history. The extreme star formation is causing plumes of material to be ejected above and below the disk of the galaxy disrupting future stellar birth.
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
Jun 22
You might have heard of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. We don't get the opportunity to study objects like this often. Webb took a look at the comet's composition. It's showing us how unusual our own solar system might be. Here's what we've learned 👇
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
Jun 22
Replying to @NASAWebb
There’s only one planet we know of with life - our own. Getting to study objects that formed in a different system than our own is a rare opportunity for learning how common, or uncommon, the conditions are for the evolution of life elsewhere in the universe.
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
Jun 22
Learn more:
NASA’s Webb Finds Clues to Ancient, Distant Origin of Comet 3I/ATLAS - NASA Science
From science.nasa.gov
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
Jun 16
One well-done gas giant planet, coming right up! Webb examined a “hot Jupiter” exoplanet called HD 80606 b, with four times Jupiter’s mass, and a very elliptical orbit that sweeps close by its Sun-like star. go.nasa.gov/3QtN6xr
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
Jun 12
Go far and wide with @NASARoman! NASA’s next space telescope will be joining Webb in L2, a million miles away to join us and your name can come too! Get your boarding pass to send your name with Roman as we work to create the most complete picture of the universe yet:
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NASA Webb Telescope reposted
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
@NASARoman
Jun 12
Have you ever wanted to have your name 'Roman' a million miles away? Now you can! Send your name along the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to launch Aug. 30, 2026! Sign up here: go.nasa.gov/4ejkRcR Submissions close July 12.
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
Jun 10
Webb has delivered the strongest evidence yet that its discovery of mysterious Little Red Dots (LRD) are “black hole stars.” They appear starting ~600 million years after the big bang, and scientists are still working out exactly what they are. science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/…
$A field of galaxies against the black background of space. In the center is a bright-white elliptical galaxy that is the core of the Abell S1063 galaxy cluster. Around the core are short, curved red lines, which are distant background galaxies magnified and warped by gravitational lensing. A couple of foreground stars appear large and bright with Webb’s signature eight-point diffraction spike pattern. Toward the very bottom, slightly off center toward the right, is a small red dot that is highlighted by an orange square outline. A larger orange square in the top right corner shows the object in more detail. The object, labeled “GLIMPSE-17775” looks like a fuzzy red dot with a yellow core.$
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
Jun 10
Replying to @NASAWebb
This gas accounts for why most LRDs are faint in X-rays; any X-rays given off are likely absorbed by the surrounding cocoons. More typical growing supermassive black holes are not embedded in dense gas, which allows UV light and X-rays from material orbiting them to escape.
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
Jun 10
Ultimately this is one more piece of an ongoing puzzle discovered by, and potentially solvable by Webb.
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
Jun 8
Beyond the Orion Nebula is a long and massive filament of cold gas and dust divided into four parts and collectively called the Orion Molecular Clouds. This image shows just a small portion of one of the clouds. esawebb.org/images/potm260…
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
Jun 8
Every stage of star formation — from the youngest stellar embryos, to protoplanetary discs, to newly-minted pre-main sequence stars — is contained within just this scene (captured by Webb’s Near-Infared Camera) which stretches 150 light-years across.
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
Jun 1
Webb is looking at the chemical fingerprints of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS in the mid-infrared 🔎 New data points to a very different formation environment and chemistry for this object compared to most comets that formed in our own solar system. science.nasa.gov/blogs/3iatlas/…
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