![]() ![]() Hubble’s telescopes looked primarily at objects in the ultraviolet, visual and near-infrared wavelengths. Its primary mirror is about 20 feet across, while Hubble’s is just 8 feet across. It will orbit Earth four times farther out than the moon and employ an unprecedented range of wavelengths and strength of definition (NASA GSFC/CIL illustration/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez) Supernova explosions make all the materials for life - the oxygen we breathe, the iron in our blood.” Bigger, farther, betterĪn artist’s rendering of the James Webb Space Telescope, the Hubble’s successor. ![]() We’ll be able to study what type of star was there before the explosion, the physics of the explosion, the type of dust it generated and what made it all happen. “Supernova remnants are leftover explosions - that’s what we’ll be studying. “JWST is going to allow us to look at stellar objects at wavelengths and resolutions we’ve never been able to use before,” Milisavljevic said. Cassiopeia A comprises the remnants of a supernova explosion and has at its heart a neutron star that doesn’t behave the way scientists think neutron stars ought to behave. Milisavljevic leads a team of nearly 40 scientists and researchers from more than 30 institutions - including Harvard, Princeton and Johns Hopkins universities, as well as Los Alamos National Laboratory and the SETI Institute - in studying Cassiopeia A, one of the more puzzling objects in the galaxy. The knowledge it uncovers may help scientists take the next small steps out into the universe - and discern where humans want to go next and why. JWST looks even farther into space and time, and with an unprecedented range of wavelengths and strength of definition. The JWST is bigger, is more complex and orbits farther from the Earth than Hubble, allowing it unprecedented opportunities for interstellar sleuthing. It’s exciting to look at the promise of the JWST coming true.”īefore JWST, the Hubble Space Telescope allowed humans to see farther into space and deeper into time. “It’s not just better resolution, but JWST is looking at infrared emissions sensitive to a variety of different elements and molecules that Hubble cannot access. “The images don’t just look better – they’re different,” Milisavljevic said. Milisavljevic emphasizes that the telescope is not just larger or more powerful than the Hubble – though it is those things – but it also incorporates scientific knowledge learned from the Hubble to look at the stars in an entirely new way. After launching in late December and reaching its orbit in January, the JWST has been calibrating its instruments and preparing for its role as humanity’s longest-sighted eyes. JWST is the most powerful space telescope ever launched and the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, which allowed humans to see farther into space and deeper into time. These images reveal all sorts of structures that we have never seen before and led me to ask all sorts of questions that I had never even thought to ask.”Īn assistant professor of physics and astronomy in Purdue University’s College of Science, Milisavljevic (pronounced mili-sahv-la-vich) leads a team of collaborators that will study images like the ones JWST released for insights into the life cycles of stars, galaxies and the universe itself. The images pushed the envelope of my understanding – of my ability to even explain what I was seeing. “JWST just launched a new era of space exploration. “These images were incredible,” Milisavljevic said. Star birth, star death, exoplanets, galaxies and a window that looks back to the universe 13.1 billion years ago: That’s what the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) delivered when it released its first handful of scientific images on Tuesday (July 12).Īs he has from the beginning, astronomer Danny Milisavljevic watched with fellow astronomers, witnessing the universe unfold before his eyes. ![]()
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