JWST: Hhumanity’s distant past |ArsTechnica

It is a beautiful story to behold.

Eric Berger / Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to wonky NASA policy, and author of the book Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX. A certified meteorologist, Eric lives in Houston.

 

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The Webb telescope just offered a revelatory view of humanity’s distant past

by Eric Berger - Jul 12, 2023 1:59 pm UTC

4 - 5 minutes

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Space

Talk about the circle of life. It is here. It is there. It is everywhere.

The first-anniversary image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope displays star birth like it’s never been seen before.

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (STScI)

To commemorate the first year of scientific operations by the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA has released a stunning new image of a stellar nursery.

The photo is gorgeous. It could easily hang in a museum, as if it were a large canvas painting produced by a collaboration of impressionistic and modern artists. But it is very real, showcasing the process of stars being born a mere 390 light years from Earth. This is the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth.

Given the nursery's proximity and Webb's unparalleled scientific instruments, we have never had this kind of crystal-clear view of these processes before. The detail revealed in this image of about 50 stars is truly remarkable, a distillation of all that Webb has delivered over the last 12 months and all that it promises to do over the next 10 or 20 years.."

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