Webb telescope just snapped direct image of worlds many light-years away

mashable.com

Astronomy @mander.xyz

threelonmusketeers @sh.itjust.works

4mo ago

Webb telescope just snapped direct image of worlds many light-years away

mashable.com /article/james-webb-space-telescope-planets-direct-images

31 comments

Direct link to the article with the source images: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-images-young-giant-exoplanets-detects-carbon-dioxide/
- Image A: HR 8799 (NIRCam Image) ...
  Picture caption ...
  NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has provided the clearest look in the infrared yet at the iconic multi-planet system HR 8799. The closest planet to the star, HR 8799 e, orbits 1.5 billion miles from its star, which in our solar system would be located between the orbit of Saturn and Neptune. The furthest, HR 8799 b, orbits around 6.3 billion miles from the star, more than twice Neptune’s orbital distance. Colors are applied to filters from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), revealing their intrinsic differences. A star symbol marks the location of the host star HR 8799, whose light has been blocked by the coronagraph. In this image, the color blue is assigned to 4.1 micron light, green to 4.3 micron light, and red to the 4.6 micron light. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, W. Balmer (JHU), L. Pueyo (STScI), M. Perrin (STScI)
  
  People are complaining about the blurriness, but I'm old and this picture is astonishing.
  
  That's nuts.
  
  That's crazy,so much color made it all the way over here, crazy..
- Nice! Very blurry though. Should have turned on auto-stabilization.
  
  Idk, the stars look fantastic! So sharp and pointy!
  
  They just need to yell "enhance!" A few times
“Webb telescope snaps” Oh no!! “Image” Oh ok. Lol
That is a surprisingly sharp image of planets for an image 7.642e+14 miles away, holy fuck.
Reminds me of the FSS in Elite Dangerous. Don't forget to honk the system!
- Almost likes like there's even hints of variation on the planets' "surface"s
  
  The planets are nowhere near large enough to be resolved, any variation is either noise or an artifact from the coronagraph.
Next time an Elon apologist says NASA hasn't done anything in theast 20 years needs to be pointed to this.
- Last I heard, Republicans were trying to cut the JWST's funding. Can't have society invest in anything that doesn't make money for a billionaire.
the image in question: .

31 comments