2023-08-08 16:27:40
In its campaign to observe the cosmos, the James Webb telescope has captured a unusual formation about 1,470 light years from the earth. It is neither more nor less than a question mark (so, as they read it) located in the heart of the constellation Vela. His sighting has surprised experts since, until now, there was no record of something like this. Some speculate that it could be two galaxies entangled by gravitational attraction and who, instead, the result of some kind of distortion caused by a celestial body of unknown origin.
The image has been published a few days ago by the European Space Agency (ESA). The enigmatic question mark is part of a panorama of a not particularly bright constellation that can be seen from the equator and the southern hemisphere. This region of the universe has been explored by terrestrial and space telescopes for decades, but it was not until the arrival of the Webb that, thanks to its instruments for capturing images in infrared lightthis curious cosmic formation could be distinguished.
A year and a half of exploration
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It’s been a year and a half since the james webb space telescope is capturing unprecedented images of the cosmos. It is the largest and most sophisticated scientific instrument ever launched by our species, with lenses up to 100 times more powerful than those of its predecessors. In just a few months, Webb has already captured such spectacular images as the birth of stars in the Carina Nebula, a quintet of galaxies colliding with each other, a dying star surrounded by a sea of u200bu200band the deepest and sharpest infrared image ever captured. of the distant universe.
Webb’s observations have been chosen by the magazines ‘Science’ and ‘Nature’ as the most important scientific breakthrough of the year. “This telescope will show us the universe as we have never seen it before,” explained the Spanish scientist Begoña Vilain charge of coordinating the instruments on board the James Webb Space Telescope, on the eve of the launch of this historic mission.
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