The James Webb Space Telescope observes the Cosmic Seahorse Through a gravitational lens

Read Time:1 Minute, 57 Second

Webb is being used by scientists to study star formation in a galaxy far away.

Through a gravitational lens, the James Webb Space Telescope observes the Cosmic Seahorse

While the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the strong off-Earth observatory ever built. It has limitations in terms of how far it can see.

As an amazing new image shows, the JWST’s already razor-sharp vision , aided by an occurrence known as gravity lensing.

The Cosmic Seahorse galaxy , seen through a gravity lens in this image from Webb’s near-inf NIRCam instrument. The image contains numerous of galaxies, but in the lower right quadrant. Some of them, including the Cosmic Seahorse, show up warped, with smudged arcs of light.

When the gravity of an enormous celestial object is so powerful that it curves space-time. Light coming from behind the object bends within it, and warping occurs. The galaxy cluster SDSS J1226+2149, which is approximately 6.3 billion light-years away from Earth. And created the particular gravitational lens in this image. The Cosmic Seahorse galaxy, which is physically located behind the cluster, is the large, bright blur near the core of the gravity lens.

The advantage of gravity’s lensing is that this not only bends but also magnifies light, much like a telescope lens. This enables scientists to observe extremely distant galaxies such as the Cosmic Seahorse and even study the creation of stars in those galaxies.

That is, in fact, the focus of one program that makes use of Webb’s powerful imaging abilities. Indeed, this fresh picture is one of a series of Webb pictures. That will help astronomers study star formation in distant galaxies.

Giant Supernova Explosion in Cosmic Seahorse Captured by NASA James Webb Space Telescope

Table of Contents

The European Space Agency (ESA) wrote in a statement

“These observations will show the capabilities of Webb and provide richly detailed datasets to the astronomical community. As well as showing the rapidity with which stars form and describing the environments in these galaxies that gave rise to new stars,” the European Space Agency (ESA) wrote in a statement(opens in new tab) about the image.

“Astronomers anticipate that Webb’s crystal-clear vision and cutting-edge instruments will provide new insights into the development of stars in distant, gravitationally lensed galaxies,” according to ESA.