Two Weeks In, the Webb Space Telescope Is Reshaping Astronomy | Quanta Magazine
In the days after the mega-telescope started delivering data, astronomers reported new discoveries about galaxies, stars, exoplanets and even Jupiter.
Hasnain says:
The science coming out of the JWST has been so incredibly exciting to see and learn about.
“JWST should be capable of finding far more distant supernovas too, which will give it another way to serve as a probe of the early universe. It may also find stars being torn apart by the supermassive black holes that reside at galaxies’ centers, something no previous telescope has seen. “For the first time we’re going to be able to peer into these very deep, dark regions,” said Ori Fox, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute who leads the team studying transients.
Transients, like other astronomical phenomena, are set to be redefined. After decades of planning and construction, JWST has hit the sky running. The issue now is keeping pace with the constant barrage of science coming down from a machine so complex yet faultless it almost defies belief that it was built by human brains. “It’s working, and it’s insane,” said Larson.”
Posted on 2022-07-26T06:26:11+0000