Get ready to travel back into the early universe this week as scientists get set to reveal the most detailed snapshots ever taken of our cosmos.
, just before the telescope started taking its first set of full-resolution images we're about to see.So what do we know about the galaxies, stars and planets the team has selected to dazzle us with? And how spectacular will these new images be?
These galaxies were captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in a famous image called the Ultra Deep Field. This area contains a number of large galaxy clusters that sit between us and more distant galaxies and stars. In May, scientists created one of the deepest images of the universe ever taken while testing out the telescope's fine guidance system.The full-resolution images taken by the telescope's main instruments promise to look even more spectacular.The Carina Nebula is located approximately 7,600 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina.
While the JWST doesn't take images in optical light, it takes longer wavelengths of infrared light than the Hubble telescope, so it will cut even further through the dust and be able to see this nebula in even more detail.The JWST will also give scientists a clearer picture of how stars form when galaxies collide in a cosmic tug o' war.Stephan's Quintet lies in the constellation of Pegasus.Four of the five galaxies in the quintet are about 290 million light-years away.
But as spectacular as this image is, most of the stars in the quintet are too far away for Hubble to see or shrouded in dust.The Southern Ring Nebula is half a light-year in diameter and lies 2,000 light-years away.At the heart of this massive bubble of expanding gas, known as a planetary nebula, is not one, but two stars.