The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) recently revisited a famous spot: the Hubble Space Telescope’s Ultra Deep Field. This new observation is part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), which aims to explore two areas of the sky that Hubble previously imaged.
Hubble’s deep field images revealed thousands of faint galaxies, some dating back over 13 billion years. The Ultra Deep Field shows about 10,000 galaxies in a small patch of sky, less than a tenth the size of the full Moon. Hubble had its limits, especially in viewing very distant objects. As light from these galaxies travels through time, it shifts to infrared wavelengths, which Hubble can’t detect. That’s where JWST comes in.
In October 2022, JWST first focused on the Ultra Deep Field using its Near-Infrared Camera. The latest image comes from its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). MIRI uses a special filter designed to capture light at longer infrared wavelengths, requiring an impressive 41-hour exposure for this detailed view.
This new image shows around 2,500 galaxies in just a small section of the Ultra Deep Field. Most are high redshift galaxies, meaning they formed shortly after the Big Bang. The highest redshift in this image is about 12, representing galaxies that existed 380 million years after the Big Bang. In contrast, the farthest known galaxy, MoM-z14, has a redshift of 14.4.
Combining data from both JWST’s MIRI and Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) gives us a clearer picture of these galaxies. Since infrared light isn’t visible to our eyes, the image is presented in false color.
In this image, many red galaxies are either shrouded in dust or are older galaxies. These dusty galaxies absorb starlight and emit it again in infrared light. The smaller greenish-white galaxies are seen as they were when the universe was just beginning. Meanwhile, the larger blue galaxies are closer and appear brighter.
Astronomers are delving deeply into this data, aiming to uncover major cosmic mysteries, such as the birth of supermassive black holes and how galaxies formed and evolved. Each new observation adds to our understanding of the universe’s history.
According to a recent report published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, scientists are enthusiastic about the insights JWST data might reveal, paving the way for answers to questions we’ve pondered for centuries. The excitement around JWST and its findings resonates across social media, with users expressing awe at the images and pondering their implications for our understanding of the cosmos.
As our technology advances, the universe’s secrets slowly unfold before us, and JWST is at the forefront of this incredible journey. For more detailed information on its findings, check out the study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
