Erin M. May, PhDApr 30, 2022

Did you see the news that all of the #JWST instruments are aligned now?

Check out this comparison of one of the newly released calibration images from the MIRI instrument compared to images taken of the same region of space by the WISE and Spitzer space telescopes! Look at that resolution! So many newly resolved stars and structures! 🤩

I can't wait for all the new discoveries we'll make with JWST! #Science data starts in only a couple months!

(Image from @/AndrasGasper on birdapp)

Show threadNatrisApr 30, 2022
@_astronoMay can you explain the numbers at the bottom? The resolution gets higher and higher as we move left to right but these numbers go up and down which is confusing.
Show threadIslandUsurper 
@Natris1979 @_astronoMay wild guessing because I hope to be corrected: the wavelength of light each telescope detected.
Apr 30, 2022 at 8:22amWeb
Show threadErin M. May, PhDApr 30, 2022

@IslandUsurper @Natris1979

Correct! That's the wavelength of light in each image.

We typically use filters to only collect very certain colors of light at a time so that we can later see how objects in space change when observed in these different colors. This helps show us, among other stuff, what the objects are made of

These are all infrared wavelengths, which is a type of heat.