First Images from JWST’s Largest General Observer Program
By UT Austin
March 9, 2023
The first images from the largest program in the James Webb Space Telescope’s first year show many types of galaxies, including dazzling examples of spiral galaxies, gravitational lensing and evidence of galaxy mergers. Scientists from the COSMOS-Web program released mosaic images taken in early January by JWST’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).
“This first snapshot of COSMOS-Web contains about 25,000 galaxies — an astonishing number larger than even what sits in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field,” said Caitlin Casey, associate professor of astronomy at The University of Texas at Austin and co-principal investigator of COSMOS-Web. “It’s one of the largest JWST images taken so far. And yet it’s just 4 percent of the data we will get for the full survey. When it is finished, this deep field will be astoundingly large and overwhelmingly beautiful.”
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