A video which contextualises an image of space snapped by the James Webb space telescope shows just how remarkable the detailed picture really is.
This week, NASA released the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe ever taken following the launch of the James Webb telescope in last December.
The first image encapsulates thousands of galaxies which can be found in our universe, including some of the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared, according to NASA. Its arrival is truly historical, but until you see it in relation to the rest of the universe it's hard to truly appreciate what the image displays.
See the image in context below:
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The video, made possible by the American Astronomical Society’s WorldWide Telescope and shared online by Harvard astronomy professor Alyssa A. Goodman, places the image snapped by the James Webb telescope and compares it to images of the universe around it.
As well as zooming in on the detailed image to give a closer look at galaxies it captures, the video zooms out to show just how small a section it is, and what that same section might look like without the focus and detail made possible with the telescope.
Alongside the video, Goodman wrote: "Here's a 1-minute video showing - in the words of visualization hero @EdwardTufte - the 'compared to what' factor for today's amazing @NASAWebb image."
Goodman went on to thank those who had made the scenes possible, and expressed her wishes that NASA and US President Joe Biden had presented the image in a similar way to give viewers a better understanding of its significance.
Biden released the image, which captures a point in space dubbed SMACS 0723, with a post on Twitter in which he described it as a 'historic moment for science and technology', as well as for 'astronomy and space exploration', 'America and all humanity'.
Alongside the release of the picture yesterday (11 July), NASA explained it is made up of images captured at different wavelengths which represent the galaxy cluster as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago.
"Webb’s NIRCam has brought those distant galaxies into sharp focus – they have tiny, faint structures that have never been seen before, including star clusters and diffuse features," NASA explains. As the James Webb telescope continues to capture images and seek 'the earliest galaxies' in the universe, researchers will be able to learn more about their 'masses, ages, histories, and compositions', according to the space agency.
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Emily Brown