Context: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has spotted a distant galaxy which can give insights on how the Milky Way might have looked like in its early stage of evolution.
Relevance of the Topic:Prelims: James Webb Space Telescope
Major Highlights:
- The James Webb Space Telescope has observed the evolutionary stage of the distant galaxy Firefly Sparkle located ~13 billion light years away from Earth.
- The light which is received by JWST took light 13 billion years to travel from the galaxy to the telescope. So, as we observe the light from Firefly Sparkle today, it is an infant galaxy formed in the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang.
- Big Bang (the cosmic event that initiated the cosmos) occurred approximately 13.8 billion years ago.
- The galaxy (which as per the observations is still in the process of assembling) can give a direct look at what galaxies like our Milky Way might have looked like in their infancy.
Note:
- The Milky Way (our galaxy) began forming very early in the universe’s history, likely around the same time as Firefly Sparkle.
About James Webb Space Telescope:
- JWST is the world’s most advanced telescope launched in 2021, designed to conduct infrared astronomy.
- It is the largest infrared telescope ever built (6.5 metre primary mirror). It detects near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths to observe faint and distant objects.
- Location: It is orbiting the Sun at the L2 Lagrange point (1.5 million km from Earth)
- It is equipped with high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments, enabling investigations such as:
- observation of the first stars and the formation of the first galaxies (almost to the beginning of the universe
- detailed atmospheric characterisation of potentially habitable exoplanets.
- JWST can see further than Hubble Telescope and is considered as its successor.
- It is a collaboration between: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA) and Canadian Space Agency.
