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
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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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
May 27
Which came first, galaxies or black holes? New Webb observations show that some supermassive black holes were enormous from their beginnings, shifting traditional ideas around how black holes form and grow. go.nasa.gov/4vaEASC
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NASA Webb Telescope reposted
Chandra Observatory
@chandraxray
May 15
Westerlund 2 is a young cluster of thousands of stars located about 20,000 light-years from Earth. This close-up image, roughly 12 light-years across, combines observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory & @NASAWebb.✨
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NASA Webb Telescope reposted
Chandra Observatory
@chandraxray
May 14
At the heart of galaxy NGC 1365, a supermassive black hole is basically feasting at an all‑you‑can‑eat buffet in this image from Chandra and @NASAWebb. Located about 60 million light-years from Earth, this gobbling black hole has a mass of roughly 2 million suns... and growing.⚫
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NASA Webb Telescope reposted
Space Telescope Science Institute
@SpaceTelescope
May 5
There is a massive black hole in the center of almost every galaxy. How did it get there, and importantly, how does it grow? On May 19, we'll discuss what new #NASAWebb data is driving the biggest tensions in our understanding of the black hole phenomenon.
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
May 10
To MoM-z14 & back! 💐 Let a caregiver in your life know your appreciation for them reaches the farthest galaxy ever detected! Read more about MoM-z14: go.nasa.gov/4d1kt3l
$A wide field of view showing deep space, dotted with many small galaxies and a few foreground stars that display six diffraction spikes. Galaxy MoM-z14 is highlighted with a magnified image in a graphic pull-out box in the lower right corner. The galaxy appears as a blurry yellow blob with a small red area at its top. The text \"To MoM-z14 & back <3\" is overlaid on the image in white and gold letters.$
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
May 7
Don’t let anyone dull your shine 💫 The heart of galaxy M77 nearly outshines the galaxy itself in this mid-infrared Webb image. Gas rapidly orbits the central black hole, heating up, and radiating light. esawebb.org/images/potm260…
$A spiral galaxy shown in mid-infrared light. The image is dominated by an extremely bright glow from the galaxy\u2019s nucleus. Six large and two smaller rays of light emit from the centre, which are diffraction spikes created by the telescope\u2019s optics. The galaxy\u2019s spiral arms are visible by two lines of glowing orange bubbles which whirl out into the disc. Swirling blue clouds of dust make up the rest of the galaxy.\n$
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
May 7
Replying to @NASAWebb
This image is a composite of both mid and near infrared. The bright orange lines radiating out of the center are diffraction spikes. They aren't a physical feature of the galaxy, but an optical effect caused by the structure of the telescope.
$A spiral galaxy shown in infrared light. Six long and two smaller rays of light emit from the center, which are diffraction spikes created by the telescope\u2019s optics. A glowing bar spans across the center. A glittering ring of stars and dust surrounds the bar; at each side, the ring splits off into a spiral arm that winds outwards. Faint, dark red dust clouds swirl throughout the rest of the disc, backed by a pale glow from all the galaxy\u2019s stars.$
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NASA Webb Telescope
@NASAWebb
May 7
Light can bend (or be diffracted) around the edges of the telescope primary mirror and the struts that hold the secondary mirror. Bright objects in Webb images show a distinctive six-plus-two-pointed pattern. Hubble's have 4 point diffraction spikes due to its structure.
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