https://chat.openai.com/c/de5c3def-7d31-49b0-bd44-3d61675a3ae5
The result is a vivid landscape of the galaxy and more than a dozen newly discovered time-changing objects.
When the two flagship observatories come together, they reveal a wealth of new details that are only possible through their combined power. Webb and Hubble collaborated on studying MACS0416, a galaxy cluster about 4.3 billion light-years from Earth. Combining these data yields a prismatic panorama of blue and red. These colors provide clues to the galaxy’s distance. While the images themselves are surprising, researchers are already using these observations to fuel new scientific discoveries, such as identifying gravitationally expanded supernovae and ordinary stars.
NASA’s Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope combine to create the most colorful view of the universe
NASA‘s james webb space telescope and hubble space telescope They teamed up to study a vast galaxy cluster known as MACS0416. The resulting panchromatic images combine visible and infrared light to assemble one of the most comprehensive views of the universe ever captured. MACS0416, located approximately 4.3 billion light-years from Earth, is a pair of colliding galaxy clusters that will eventually merge to form an even larger cluster.
Details revealed by the combination of stretching and contraction forces
This image reveals a wealth of detail only possible by combining the power of both space telescopes. This includes an abundance of galaxies outside the cluster and a scattering of light sources that change over time, possibly due to gravitational lensing (distortion and amplification of light from distant background sources). It is.
The galaxy cluster was the first in a series of unprecedented cosmic views into ultra-deep space from an ambitious joint Hubble program called Frontier Fields, launched in 2014. Hubble pioneered the search for some of the faintest and youngest galaxies ever detected. Webb’s infrared vision greatly enhances this deep observation by going even deeper into the early universe with its infrared vision.
Roger Windhorst of Arizona State University, principal investigator of the PEARLS program (Extragalactic Field for Reionization and Lensing Science), which carried out the Webb observations, said: “We are looking at objects that are farther away and fainter. “By doing so, we are building on Hubble’s legacy.”
Understand image color and scientific goals
To create the images, the shortest wavelengths of light were generally color-coded as blue, the longest wavelengths as red, and the intermediate wavelengths as green. The wide range of wavelengths from 0.4 to 5 microns provides particularly vivid galactic landscapes.
These colors provide clues to the galaxy’s distance. The bluest galaxies, as most commonly detected by Hubble, are relatively nearby and often exhibit intense star formation, while redder galaxies, as detected by Webb, tend to be more distant. Some galaxies appear very red because they contain large amounts of cosmic dust that tends to absorb bluer-colored starlight.
“Until we combine the Webb data with the Hubble data, we won’t get the full picture,” Windhorst said.
Scientific discoveries and the “Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster”
New Webb observations contribute to this aesthetic view, but they were taken for a specific scientific purpose. The research team combined his three epochs, each conducted a few weeks apart, with his fourth epoch by the CANUCS (Canadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey) research team. The goal was to search for objects that change in brightness observed over time, known as transients.
They identified 14 such transients across the visual field. Twelve of these transients are located in three galaxies that are highly magnified by gravitational lensing, and may be individual stars or star systems that are temporarily highly magnified. The remaining two transients are in more moderately expanded background galaxies and may be supernovae.
“We call MACS 0416 the Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster, both because it is so colorful and because of the flashing lights found within it. Transients are seen everywhere. ” said Haojing Yang of the University of Missouri-Columbia, lead author of a paper describing the scientific results.
Finding so many transients over a relatively short time frame suggests that astronomers may be able to discover many more in this and similar clusters through regular Webb monitoring. It suggests something.
Discovery of unique transient “Mothra”
Among the transients the team identified, one in particular stood out. It is located in a galaxy that existed about 3 billion years after the Big Bang and has been magnified by at least 4,000 times. The research team nicknamed the system “Mothra” for its “monstrous nature” of being extremely bright and highly magnified. It joins another lensed star that researchers previously identified and named “Godzilla.” (Both Godzilla and Mothra are giant monsters known as kaiju in Japanese movies.)
Interestingly, Mothra can also be seen in Hubble observations taken nine years ago. This is unusual because zooming in on stars this much requires a very specific alignment between the foreground galaxy cluster and the background stars. The mutual motion of stars and star clusters should eventually dissolve the alignment.
The most likely explanation is that there are additional objects within the foreground cluster that add more magnification. The research team was able to limit its mass to between 10,000 and 1 million times the mass of the Sun. However, the exact nature of this so-called “millilens” is still unclear.
“The most likely explanation is a globular cluster that is too faint for Webb to see directly,” said José Diego of Spain’s Cantabria Institute, lead author of a paper detailing the discovery. “However, the true nature of this additional lens remains unknown.”
Yang et al.Paper accepted for publication of astrophysical journal. Diego et al.A paper was published in astronomy and astrophysics.
The Webb data shown here was obtained as part of PEARLS GTO program 1176.
References:
“PEARLS in JWST: MACS J0416.1-2403 Field Transients” Haojing Yan, Zhiyuan Ma, Bangzheng Sun, Lifan Wang, Patrick Kelly, Jose M. Diego, Seth H. Cohen, Rogier A. Windhorst, Rolf A. Jansen Authors: Norman A. Grogin, John F. Beacom, Christopher J. Conselis, Simon P. Driver, Brenda Fry, Dan Coe, Madeline A. Marshall, Anton Cukemore, Christopher NA Wilmer, Aaron Robotham, Jordan CJ D’Silva, Jake Summers, Mario Nonino, Nor Pirskar, Russell E. Ryan Jr., Rafael Ortiz III, Scott Tompkins, Rachana A. Bataudekar, Chen Chen, Adi Zitlin, SP Wilner, approved; astrophysical journal.
arXiv:2307.07579
Reference: “JWST’s PEARLS: New monster star Mothra at z = 2.091 greatly expanded in MACS0416 and implications for dark matter models” Jose M. Diego, Bangzheng Sun, Haojing Yan, Lukas J. Furtak, Erik Zackrisson , by Liang Dai, Patrick Kelly, Mario Nonino, Nathan Adams, Ashish K. Meena, Stephen P. Willner, Adi Zitlin, Seth H. Cohen, Jordan C.J. D’Silva, Rolf A. Jansen, Jake Summers, Roger A. Windhorst, Dan Coe, Christopher J. Conselis, Simon P. Driver, Brenda Fry, Norman A. Grogin, Anton M. Kokemore, Madeline A. Marshall, Nor Pilzkal, Aaron Robotham, Michael J. Rutkowski, Russell E. Ryan, Scott Tompkins, Christopher N.A. Wilmer and Rachana Bataudekar, October 32, 2023; astronomy and astrophysics.
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202347556
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb unravels the mysteries of our solar system, looks to distant worlds around other stars, and explores the mysterious structure and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA and its partner ESA (european space agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.
The Hubble Space Telescope is an international cooperative project between NASA and ESA. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts science operations for Hubble and Webb. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Astronomical Research in Washington, DC.