But what we saw in early July was only the prologue to JWST’s book. It will be the chapters that follow that will write his legacy. Although the telescope’s first color results were excellent, they are just a taste of the instrument’s capabilities. In fact, we may not even have the words to describe what’s to come, the way the first bright image of the Hubble Space Telescope could not foretell the amazing deep fields that would one day plaster the walls of the astronomy department or the nebulae that would inspire poetry. Five galaxies locked in a dance make up Stephan’s Quintet. Images from JWST released on July 12, 2022. NASA But we may be able to infer some scenes of JWST’s future because, despite this telescope’s recent public status, scientists have been lining up for years to use it. Already, researchers are ready to show it in phenomena that will blow your mind: supermassive black holes, collapsing galaxy mergers, binary stars emitting smoke signals, and even wonders closer to home, like Ganymede, an icy moon of Jupiter. More specifically, the first lucky scientists hold proposals divided into six categories, each of which was carefully selected by the James Webb Space Telescope Advisory Committee and the Space Telescope Science Institute in November 2017 — not to mention more than 200 international projects who were individually awarded the telescope and those who are ready to enter the waiting list. But the initial strain of JWST space explorers is intended to be a win-win for both the scientist and the field. These studies will create datasets, baselines, handy life hacks, and generally prepare the instruments of the powerful machine for whatever comes next. For the great moments that will go down in history. An artist’s conception of the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA GSFC/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez “To realize the full scientific potential of the James Webb Space Telescope, it is imperative that the scientific community quickly learns to use its instruments and capabilities,” says a page for the Director’s Science Early Release Programs, which gathered to choose Researchers will test JWST for the first 5 months of its scientific operations (after the telescope’s 6-month commissioning period). Perusing the list has raised my expectations — and I bet it will raise yours, too. Here is an excerpt.
Turning the page for JWST
About 3.5 billion light-years from Earth lies a massive galaxy cluster called Abell 2744, also known as the Pandora Cluster. One could argue that this is the perfect launch candidate for JWST, as it is part of the ancient, distant universe. NASA’s next-generation telescope contains a wealth of infrared imaging equipment that can access light emitted from the distant universe—light that neither the human eye nor standard optical telescopes can see. It’s a science exploration match made in heaven. So a crew of researchers plans to observe what’s going on in this brilliant cluster of galaxies, hidden from human vision but vital to astrophysical progress. Abell 2744, imaged by combining X-rays from Chandra (diffuse blue emission) with optical light data from Hubble (red, green and blue). NASA/CXC; Optical: NASA/STScI They plan to use two JWST instruments, called the Near-Infrared Spectrograph and the Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph, which can simply decode the chemical composition of distant worlds stuck in the infrared we can’t penetrate. But JWST isn’t just insightful. It can also activate reading glasses to scan nearby things. That’s why another group is more interested in figuring out how to navigate phenomena in our own cosmic neighborhood. Their blueprints say they will characterize the cloud layers, winds, composition, temperature structure and even the activity of Jupiter’s aurora — aka the Jovian version of our aurora borealis. This research piece is set to use nearly all of JWST’s ground-breaking infrared equipment: Nirspec, Niriss, as well as the Near-Infrared Camera — the JWST Alpha Imager — and the Mid-Infrared (MIRI) Camera, which, as you can guess , it specializes in detecting mid-infrared light. “Our program will thus demonstrate the capabilities of the JWST instruments on one of the largest and brightest sources in the solar system and on very faint targets next to it,” they write in their abstract. Some of the work on Jupiter has already been done according to the status report for the project, and observation windows continue through August. In addition, Jupiter’s moon Ganymede, which is the largest in the solar system, and the extremely active Io, are also to be examined with MIRI. The latter is particularly interesting, as researchers hope to resolve Io’s volcanism and compare Webb’s views with classical views. Jupiter, center, and its moon Europa, left, seen through the James Webb Space Telescope’s 2.12 micron NIRCam filter. NASA, ESA, CSA and B. Holler and J. Stansberry (STScI) Next are the scientists who focus on the dust. But not just any dust. Stardust. We know that dust is the main ingredient in the formation of the stars and planets that decorate our universe, but we’re still hazy on the timeline they followed to get us to where we are today — especially since so much of it is vital to us — The dust of existence is scattered throughout the early universe. And the early universe is clearly illuminated by infrared light. AHA. Exactly what JWST can — and will — delve into. To analyze the history of stardust is to construct an understanding of the building blocks of our cosmic universe — similar to how the study of atoms opens up knowledge about the bits of matter. And as Carl Sagan once said, “The universe is within us. We are made of star stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.” Perhaps JWST can help the universe in its quest for introspection.
Just wait until JWST sees this
Over the last several months in general, as a science writer I have seen the recurrence of a striking feeling. “Just wait until the James Webb Space Telescope sees this.” Not exactly in those words, but definitely in that tone. In April, for example, the Hubble Space Telescope set a record-breaking milestone when it delivered an image of the most distant star ever seen from the distant universe. A stellar beauty named Earendel, which aptly translates to “morning star” in Old English. “The Earendel study will be a window into an era of the universe that we’re unfamiliar with, but that gave rise to everything we know,” said Brian Welch, one of the discovery astronomers from Johns Hopkins University. Earendel (indicated by arrow) is positioned along a ripple in spacetime that gives it extreme magnification, allowing it to appear from its host galaxy, which appears as a red blob in the sky. NASA But remember how JWST is armed to study the ancient, unseen universe? Exactly. The study’s authors are now set to look at Earendel through JWST’s lens, hopefully confirming whether it really is a single stellar body and quantifying what kind of star it is giving rise to. JWST could also solve a mysterious puzzle posed by Neptune, our solar system’s gaseous blue gem: It’s cold for no apparent reason. But “the exceptional sensitivity of the space telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument, MIRI, will provide unprecedented new maps of the chemistry and temperatures in Neptune’s atmosphere,” Leigh Fletcher, co-author of a study on the mystery and a planetary scientist at the University of Leicester, said in a statement. There’s also the intrigue of deciphering the violent majesties of our cosmic realm: supermassive black holes — and even a strange multi-billion-year-old black hole ancestor. “Webb will have the power to conclusively determine how common these fast-growing black holes really are,” Seiji Fujimoto, one of the discovery astronomers from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, said in a statement.
Hubble and James Webb Space Telescope images compared: See the difference
See all photos And finally, I’d say the most exciting aspect of JWST — to me, at least — is that right now it’s the best shot we have at finding evidence for extraterrestrial life. Aliens. Some scientists are even prematurely guarding against false positives of organic matter that JWST’s software might pick up, so as not to alarm the general public (me) when that day comes. But if that day comes, our jaws will no doubt drop to the floor and our heart rates will rise, no doubt making July 12 a bland memory. And even if that day doesn’t come, it won’t be long before NASA’s new muse of space exploration sends back an image as transformative as Hubble’s first deep field in 1995 — an image we can’t yet understand.
