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See the Universe in a New Way with the Webb Space Telescope's First Images

Are you ready to see unprecedented, detailed views of the universe from the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful space observatory ever made? Scroll down to see the first full-color images and data from Webb. Unfold the universe with us. ✨

Carina Nebula

This landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars, called the Cosmic Cliffs, is the edge of the star-birthing Carina Nebula. Usually, the early phases of star formation are difficult to capture, but Webb can peer through cosmic dust—thanks to its extreme sensitivity, spatial resolution, and imaging capability. Protostellar jets clearly shoot out from some of these young stars in this new image.

Southern Ring Nebula

The Southern Ring Nebula is a planetary nebula: it’s an expanding cloud of gas and dust surrounding a dying star. In this new image, the nebula’s second, dimmer star is brought into full view, as well as the gas and dust it’s throwing out around it. (The brighter star is in its own stage of stellar evolution and will probably eject its own planetary nebula in the future.) These kinds of details will help us better understand how stars evolve and transform their environments. Finally, you might notice points of light in the background. Those aren’t stars—they’re distant galaxies.

Stephan’s Quintet

Stephan’s Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies near each other, was discovered in 1877 and is best known for being prominently featured in the holiday classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” This new image brings the galaxy group from the silver screen to your screen in an enormous mosaic that is Webb’s largest image to date. The mosaic covers about one-fifth of the Moon’s diameter; it contains over 150 million pixels and is constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files. Never-before-seen details are on display: sparkling clusters of millions of young stars, fresh star births, sweeping tails of gas, dust and stars, and huge shock waves paint a dramatic picture of galactic interactions.

WASP-96 b

WASP-96 b is a giant, mostly gas planet outside our solar system, discovered in 2014. Webb’s Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) measured light from the WASP-96 system as the planet moved across the star. The light curve confirmed previous observations, but the transmission spectrum revealed new properties of the planet: an unambiguous signature of water, indications of haze, and evidence of clouds in the atmosphere. This discovery marks a giant leap forward in the quest to find potentially habitable planets beyond Earth.

Webb's First Deep Field

This image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, known as Webb’s First Deep Field, looks 4.6 billion years into the past. Looking at infrared wavelengths beyond Hubble’s deepest fields, Webb’s sharp near-infrared view reveals thousands of galaxies—including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared—in the most detailed view of the early universe to date. We can now see tiny, faint structures we’ve never seen before, like star clusters and diffuse features and soon, we’ll begin to learn more about the galaxies’ masses, ages, histories, and compositions.

These images and data are just the beginning of what the observatory will find. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space—and for milestones like this!

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

Hello, world. My first look at my forever home. - NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover

Pictures of new wedding venue!! Getting married next year. D:

When you’re in sensory overload but no one will leave you tf alone

I’m tired

GALTx eNews: Help The Hounds Dig Out Of Snowmageddon 2021!

The record snowfall and frigid temperatures of Snowmageddon 2021 damaged the plumbing and shared water well at our kennel last week. We are still exploring our responsibility for, and the costs of, the necessary repairs, but we expect that our share will be substantial. And, although the kennel currently has running water from the city water supply, city water costs us much more to use than water from the well. We also anticipate that our bill for heating the kennel during the cold spell will be astronomical! The weather might be warmer now, but Snowmageddon 2021 isn’t over for us. 

Last week, we shared with you how our volunteers pulled together to keep the hounds safe during the cold weather. Now, we need your help too. Lori and Bill Elmer, Marcus and Sage’s adopters, generously offered a matching fund challenge to raise money to cover our Snowmageddon 2021 expenses and will match donations made to our House A Hound fund between February 19th and March 16th up to $5,000! As word got out, more help came along! Three more couples have joined the Elmers in contributing matching funds! Long-time adopters/donors Rita and Chris Wulke have pledged $2,500 in honor of their current greys, Slate, Fleet and Chill. Rick and Linda Vayo (founders of the Amanda and Emmet Golden Years Fund) are contributing an additional $2,000. And, Nicole and Mike Nixon just added another $2,500 in memory of their Rainbow Bridge Angels Keeper and Brandy. This brings our Snowmageddon 2021 Matching Fund total to $12,000!

As COVID-19 limits our fundraising to virtual, on-line events, we really need your help to ensure we reach our $12,000 goal by March 16th! Please act now to help the hounds by donating to our House A Hound Fund. Thanks so much to the Elmers, Wulkes, Vayos, Nixons, and all who help the hounds with this critical need!

Make a Matched Donation! 1/26/2021

Collab with @blackgirllostkeys

“IT’S HERE: When I was diagnosed with ADHD, I felt alone, misunderstood, and broken. Now I’ll never feel alone again. This beautiful collaboration with ADHD Alien is complete, and my heart is overflowing. Happy tears. This is what happens when the #neurodiversesquad teams up.” - René

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Got married last week. Finally! Two postponements because of COVID-19 and we were able to get this wedding out of the way!! The decorations were amazing! The food and cake were DELICIOUS!! Everything was just amazing! I didn't know what to expect but they certainly surprised!!