Why stunning Webb telescope images are becoming a new normal
The IndependentSign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. But when he saw a new raw James Webb Space Telescope image of a nearby galaxy on Monday, he couldn’t resist colour processing the image himself and sharing it on Twitter. “I made it in 10 minutes as I was having coffee,” Dr Brammer told The Independent in an interview, “So it’s not the most carefully created scientific image, but it is scientifically relevant.” Past images of the galaxy known as NGC 628 taken in visible light by the Hubble Space Telescope, for instance, show the galaxy’s spiral arms strewn with myriad stars, somewhat obscured by filaments of colder dust and gas. “While that’s not exactly my own research,” Dr Brammer said, “These types of images are how we can really understand the details of what the physics are that are going on.” But the image Dr Brammer shared highlights more than the exceptional resolution and mid-infrared sensitivity of Webb compared with past instruments such as Hubble and the now retired Spitzer Space Telescope. “Part of the power, scientifically, of these missions is that these images can be useful for many things beyond what the original team that designed the observations might have thought of,” Dr Brammer said, “because anybody, any astronomer, or anybody else can download them for any purpose that they want and do their own analysis on them.” And that will translate into a new pace of discovery and revelation when it comes to the results of Webb observations compared with what’s taken place with Hubble and other instruments in the past.