NASA has recently unveiled new images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope that are dazzling: nebulae and galactic clusters and a giant, never-before-seen exoplanet.
To top it off, NASA also released a picture of the galactic cluster known as SMACS 0723 – a swarm of thousands of galaxies, including the most distant ones ever observed in the infrared spectrum, revealed at a White House press conference by President Joe Biden.
These images were of objects that every day people outside of the astronomy community have never heard or seen before, but now that attain a new place in cosmic history.
In addition to SMACS 0723, here are the new discoveries:
- The Carina Nebula, one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky, located 7,600 light years from Earth.
- WASP-96b, a giant gas planet orbiting a star 1,150 light years from Earth.
- The Southern Ring Nebula, an expanding cloud of gas nearly half a light year wide surrounding a dying star 2,000 light years away.
- Stephans Quintet, a compact galaxy group, located 290 million light years from Earth, first crudely imaged in 1787.
Vice President Harris said, "with photos of this kind we are entering a new phase of scientific discovery". "These images offer a new window into the history of our universe", added President Biden.
