Questions tagged [james-webb-space-telescope]
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is an infrared space observatory that launched on Dec 25, 2021. It is the largest and most powerful space telescope to date.
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Why don't we just unshift the IR photos from Webb?
I’ve been going back and forth with peers on why image processing is done the way it is on the Webb Telescope. Based off some article, my understanding is that they have various filters that represent ...
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As of now how much larger is our practically observable universe compared to just prior to JWST becoming operational
On April 2 2022 I asked for estimates of expected results. How much larger will the "observable by us" universe be when JWST becomes operational?.
As of Jan 27 2024 with JWST operational for ...
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What's the official process for confirming then naming supernovae (e.g. Requiem and Encore)?
I saw this NASA Webb Telescope tweet:
Supernova 2: Galactic Boogaloo
In 2016, @NASAHubble saw a supernova named Requiem in a distant galaxy. Now Webb has found a second supernova named Encore — ...
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What is the biggest magnitude (faintest light possible) seen by JWST?
I'm doing some digging around ultra-diffused galaxies and would like to know what is the faintest visible light (biggest apparent magnitude) JWST can see. I have not been able to find it online.
Thank ...
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JWST Early Black Holes: Gas Collapsed To Metallic Hydrogen Core?
I was reading an article about early black holes found by JWST at Redshift 9. And saw that there was wonder at how large amounts of gas could collapse into a black hole as a theory.
So my question is ...
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Can you identify the source of this image of the Pacman Nebula (NGC 281)?
Months ago I downloaded this glorious image of the Pacman Nebula (NGC 281) in Cassiopeia. I have not been able to identify the source of the image (e.g., Hubble, James Webb Space Telescope, etc.) and ...
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What would evidence of stars and galaxies significantly older than 13.8 billion years old look like? In what parts of space has it not been found?
The September 19, 2023 podcast with transcript Why the earliest galaxies are sparking drama and controversy among astronomers includes the following:
An article published earlier this year in the ...
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Is it possible to detect lyman alpha blobs (LABs) with the lyman-break method?
LABs are luminous extended nebulae of hydrogen gas in the early universe (z ≥ 3) found in overdensities of LAEs (lyman-alpha emitters) and LBGs (lyman-break galaxies). I was wondering if LABs could be ...
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When should we expect atmospheric info from the most promising planets for life, Trappist-1e?
It seems like other exoplanets in the Trappist-1 system have been studied by JWST but perhaps most promising planet for life, Trappist-1e, has yet to get studied or at least have any published news.
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What could these LMC objects in this color-color diagram be?
I have performed a color-color and colour-magnitude plot of various sources detected in an LMC image (JWST NIRCAM F200W, F150W and F115W filters). I then also queried SIMBAD to collect relevant ...
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Obtaining Transit Spectrum for Celestial Bodies Using JWST NIRSPEC
I've recently been tasked with obtaining transit spectrum data for some fascinating celestial bodies, including Ceres, Enceladus, Ganymede, Io, and Titan. The goal is to compare their transit spectra ...
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Acetylene at Uranus? What's JWST's evidence and current thinking of how it's possible?
After about 03:22 in PBS Newshour's July 13, 2023 James Webb Space Telescope prompts scientists to rethink understanding of the universe JWST Interdisciplinary Scientist Heidi Hammel talks about ...
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Could macroscopic primordial black holes have created metals shortly after the big bang?
After seeing articles about the JWST like these two: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2023/02/astronomers-discover-metal-rich-galaxies-early-universe
https://www.livescience.com/james-webb-space-...
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Does the other side of the Big Bang factor into JWST observations?
Our (roughly) 13.6 billion light year view to the point of origin (big bang) is just along a radial axis. Assuming most matter ejected in a (roughly) spherical pattern, the diameter of the universe is ...
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Is there a standard deconvolution procedure to remove JWST's diffraction pattern yet? If so, would Arp 220 be a good candidate on which to try it?
Source: Webb captures the spectacular galactic merger Arp 220
Shining like a brilliant beacon amidst a sea of galaxies, Arp 220 lights up the night sky in this view from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb ...
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Are there any hints in the CMB as to why the James Webb telescope is finding galaxies larger than expected in the early universe?
"James Webb telescope detects evidence of ancient ‘universe breaker’ galaxies | Astronomy | The Guardian" https://amp.theguardian.com/science/2023/feb/22/universe-breakers-james-webb-...
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Angular extent of this composite Chandra / JWST image of the Tarantula Nebula?
I thought I’d ask this question here, as I couldn’t readily find the answer looking through online resources.
What is the angular extent of the composite Chandra / JWST image of the Tarantula Nebula ...
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Is the James Webb Space Telescope ever going to run out of thruster power to point it to the right direction?
As far as I know the only mechanism that our spacecrafts have to maneuver in space is gas thrusters.
Obviously pressurized gas is in a limited quantity on the JWST. What are the plans for when the ...
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Why is the latest Webb discovery of early-age universe considered so important?
The past week, news were flooding of an unexpected discovery of James Webb Space Telescope. In many articles it is mentioned that cosmologists cannot explain the formation of galaxies of this ...
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Why does one object (star?) in this JWST image have two sets of six+plus+two diffraction spikes but another, similar object nearby have only one?
CNN's February 24, 2023 Astrophysicist says 'there is nothing wrong with not knowing' is basically an opportunity for Neil deGrasse Tyson to give us a pep talk and reminder about the exciting process ...
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Can JWST see Proxima C?
I know that Proxima B is too close for Webb. But Proxima C is >1'' away from Proxima. So Webb could see it. There have been some unconfirmed images from earth. Besides there seem to be dust bands ...
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Can we use plain mirror as a secondary mirror in cassegrain telescope?
I was planning of making a telescope like JWST, just with plain mirrors, as bigger concave or convex are much expensive. The primary mirror would be totally made of plain mirrors configured like JWST. ...
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What is the most common activity of astronomers in the JWST? [closed]
I am no astronomer. I am a computer scientist.
I recently read this article: JWST has changed the speed of discovery, for better or for worse - Astronomers are working at a furious pace to analyze and ...
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What accounts for a Lyman-break for all wavelengths shorter than 91.2nm if the Lyman limit is the highest energy photon that neutral hydrogen absorbs?
From this description of Lyman-break galaxies, I don't understand how:
...radiation at higher energies than the Lyman limit at 912 Å is almost completely absorbed by neutral gas around star-forming ...
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What data has JWST obtained of the Trappist-1 exoplanets and where is it? [duplicate]
I have been long waiting spectral data regarding the exoplanets around Trappist-1 and their atmospheres, and I was also long awaiting JWST's launch to get to know more about the system. However, now ...
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How does the James Webb Space Telescope achieve a focal length of 131.4m?
How does the James Webb Space Telescope achieve a focal length of 131.4m ?
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Is pointing a telescope at a random place a viable astronomical strategy?
Recently I happened to be on the MAST portal, looking at jwst data. I happened to come across 2 interesting targets, “random place” and “another random place”
This got me thinking. It’s almost ...
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How tall are the pillars of creation? (angular and physical) How bright are they? [duplicate]
NASA's October 19, 2022 NASA’s Webb Takes Star-Filled Portrait of Pillars of Creation shows a sparkly and beautiful infrared image of the Astronomical elephant trunks known as the Pillars of Creation.
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What is this bright blue object taken by the Webb telescope?
From NASA - New Webb Image captures clearest view of Neptune's rings in decades:
Does anyone know what the bright blue on the left top corner of the picture is? It is a reflection of sorts or is it a ...
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Redshift distance proportionality at high Z and need for "mighty mouse" galaxies?
Allegedly supported by some evidence from the new James Webb space telescope physicist Eric Lerner has written an article that have garnered some attention. He writes that:
"Put another way, the ...
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Has NASA released any JWST images of Trappist-1? If not, why?
According to JWST weekly schedules (found here), the Trappist-1 system was among the telescope's targets during early July.
The only JWST image of an exoplanet in the Trappist-1 system that I've ...
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How much does foreground clumping affect the estimated sizes of high-redshift objects?
I've always converted angular to linear size by using the angular-diameter distance without really thinking about it. But in light of recent stories about high-$z$ galaxies observed by JWST being ...
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What parameters of the Big Bang model will have to be adjusted to account for JWST's observations of highly redshifted galaxies?
There are a lot of claims, on YouTube at least, that the James Webb space telescope have found too many to old/highly redshifted normal looking galaxies to fit easily into the Big Bang model.
One such ...
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Can I use ENVI Classic to process JWST tiff image?
I am interested to process JWST or any other astronomical images. Can I use ENVI Classic to process it? I have some JWST tiff images and I would like to know about the gasses, compounds, the ...
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How close to itself can the JWST see? Inside our own system, or must it look beyond like it is far sighted? Essentially, can JWST see Mars or others?
How close to us can we see with JWST, would we be able to look at our neighbor planets and/or their moons (when in the right place logically) or would things that close be out of focus?
I tried ...
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What causes the halo in JWST's new image of Jupiter?
Then new JWST image of Jupiter shows a small halo on the right side of the planet. What's causing this feature? I figure it could be that the planet is simply overexposed (or moving slightly during ...
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Can the JWST track element abundances throughout time? Would this be of any interest at all?
Now that the JWST is peering further and further back into the cosmos, I came to a few questions that I would love to see answered. We know that models of the big bang nucleosynthesis result in ...
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Why is infrared the ideal band to detect the earliest and most-redshifted galaxies? [duplicate]
Was infrared chosen for the James Webb Space Telescope's mission to detect the most-redshifted galaxies and stars in the universe because most detectable galactic radiation emits most strongly in the ...
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What is the story behind this supposedly incredibly detailed image of the disk of Proxima Centauri attributed to the JWST?
Etienne Klein (@EtienneKlein)'s twitter account labels them as:
Directeur de recherche @CEA_Officiel, producteur de « Science en questions » sur @franceculture, publie « L’esprit du corps »
and ...
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What is this object visible in the Chandra image of the Cartwheel galaxy that isn't visible in JWST image?
In the below images I aligned an image from Chandra of the Cartwheel galaxy over the image from JWST. The first is the Chandra image pasted on top, fully opaque. The second is just the JWST image, and ...
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How does JWST position itself to see and resolve an exact target?
Let's say the James Webb Space Telescope wants to move from observing the Andromeda galaxy millions of light years away to looking at the Trappist-1e planet some dozens of light years away, what ...
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Could the James Webb Space Telescope be protected from meteorites?
Unfortunately a meteorite has already hit the telescope and caused irreversible damage to it. I was wondering if they could have provided a cover or shield, to protect it when it is not observing. Or ...
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If I can't unscramble an egg, how do Astronomers unscramble views gravitationally lensed by complex mass distributions?
Quanta Magazine's Two Weeks In, the Webb Space Telescope Is Reshaping Astronomy highlights two submissions to arXiv soon after the first images were released: "Three days later, just minutes ...
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How to obtain exoplanets transmission spectra from JWST's NIRISS data of WASP96?
I was having a look at JWST's NIRISS data of WASP96 (specifically at the x1dints fits file which should be already calibrated). From this, I would like to obtain a result in a fashion similar to the ...
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Webb data pipeline explanations e.g. using the first five images?
The first 5 stunning results from the Webb Space Telescope are now available!
And the raw data is available for them, e.g. via bulk download scripts or via the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (...
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How much does the communications frequency of JWST vary?
This question (How many light seconds away is the JWST?), or rather one of its answers, got me thinking.
Since the communications time is about 5±0.75 seconds, it varies by about 1.5 seconds per 3 ...
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What percentage of visible stars will JWST be able to survey over the next 10 years?
The James Webb telescope is projected to stay operational over the next 10 years. During this time, what percentage of the visible universe/stars will it be able to survey? Of course, technically the ...
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Why not launch a few more copies of JWST?
The James Webb Satellite seems to be a highly successful project and it looks like humanity will get useful observations from it for many decades to come. But the question is... why not make 3 more ...
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Will the James Webb Space Telescope be able to detect/resolve Russell's teapot?
Was wondering if JWST has the capability to detect and image Russell's teapot. It seems to me that may retain enough IR energy. ;-)
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What is the large dim feature near the center of the first James Webb image (of SMACS 0723)?
I was intrigued by the large dim feature (highlighted below) in the center of the first James Webb image of SMACS 0723. Is anything known about it?
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