Detailed photos show emissions from carbon and hydrogen molecules.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MARYLAND — The Large Magellanic Cloud looks sharper with a telescope Outer Space James Webb. Recent images from Webb show off the performance using its coldest instrument yet, the Mid Infrared Instrument (MIRI).
The new MIRI images show the chemistry of interstellar gases in fine detail, including emissions from carbon and hydrogen molecules called “polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.” These molecules are considered as some of the building blocks of life.
These imaging capabilities are critical to helping Webb understand how stars and protoplanetary systems form, officials told a news conference. SpaceTuesday (10/5/2022).
“This is a very good science example of what Webb will do for us in the years to come,” said Chris Evans, telescope project scientist at the National Institute of Sciences. space Europe (ESA), partner in the mission.
“We’ve done a lot of research on the formation of stars and planets in our own galaxy, but here we see them in the Magellanic Cloud, a very small external galaxy, where they are chemically less evolved than our own Milky Way,” Evan said.
The image, taken at 7.7 microns, shows a view of the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud, which is a dwarf galaxy neighboring the Milky Way. Alongside the Webb image, engineers re-released an image from the now retired Spitzer Space Telescope at 8.0 microns.
Spitzer was a pioneer in his day in producing high-resolution images of the near and medium infrared universe (the near-and mid-infrared universe), but Webb is much stronger.
“Spitzer is doing amazing things,” Evans said, but he noted that the observatory is limited by its spatial resolution, as it is optimized for wide-field surveys that capture celestial objects in context.
In addition, Webb has a much larger main mirror, an improved detector, and a superior point of view when compared to Spitzer. These factors will allow the new telescope to access infrared information more clearly than its predecessors.
Webb’s engineers are now in the final stages of adjusting the instrument, now that all mirrors have been cooled to the deep room temperature required by infrared observations.
In the near future, mission personnel will also test Webb’s ability to track objects in the solar system, such as planets, satellites, rings, asteroids and comets. Scientists will focus on making sure Webb can do this correctly, given that the observatory is very sensitive to starlight.
“We will also measure changes in the alignment of the telescope as we point the telescope at different locations,” Evans said.
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