Webb's First Deep Field (NIRISS Emission Spectra)

At far left is a near-infrared image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. A group of massive galaxies below and to the right of the bright central star have distorted, magnified, and mirrored many galaxies in this field.

By quickly examining the image at left by eye, it becomes clearer that one arc may be made up of two similar-looking galaxies. Their bright central regions match, despite their stretched appearances. These may be lensed galaxies – one galaxy that is mirrored in a second location. Are they the same? Researchers can’t be sure from the image alone – more data are needed to confirm a match.

Scientists do this by gathering spectra, which spread light out so they can fully examine an object’s makeup. Webb’s Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS), which gathers spectra of every object in any field it observes, was pointed at the galaxy cluster to gather more detail. A segment of the NIRISS grism image (an instrument that has a grating, or stair steps, on a prism), at center, shows how ionized oxygen and atomic hydrogen emission lines are distributed along the arc.

Next, the spectra from each of these two galaxies were plotted as graphs, shown at right, to reveal their compositions. The graphs, known as spectra, match, which indicates that these arcs are mirror images of the same galaxy. Webb’s spectra from NIRISS also quickly proved that light from both galaxies was emitted 9.3 billion years ago, further confirming they are one and the same.

Using Webb’s NIRISS is like opening a treasure chest overflowing with spectra. For example, this instrument can disperse the spectra along the image vertically and horizontally. Researchers can use both modes to untangle which lines match each source.

Every object’s image can be transformed into spectra like the two shown above. So even if researchers aren’t intending to study a particular galaxy in the field, they may make a surprise discovery.

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As part of Webb’s prep for science, we tested how the telescope tracks solar system objects like Jupiter. Webb worked better than expected, and even caught Jupiter’s moon Europa

These images are designed for engineering purposes, so they aren’t processed in the same way as our first images this week. Like some earlier calibration images, these are processed to emphasize certain features.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/07/14/webb-images-of-jupiter-and-more-now-available-in-commissioning-data
Source: @NASAWebb
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Where in the night sky exactly are the "cosmic cliffs" from the JWST Carina Nebula images? (4K)

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Further explanation

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Only a short time ago though, NASA officials feared James Webb's mission was doomed and that we may never see the first scientific images revealed to the world just a few days ago.

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NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Roman Space Telescope

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The telescope is currently targeted to launch in October 2026, as specified in the contract, on a Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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Astronomers Find Ancient Brown Dwarf in Solar Neighborhood

WISE 1810055-1010023 (WISE 1810 for short), a metal-poor brown dwarf located 8.9 parsecs (29 light-years) away, is nearly 10 billion years old.

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