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The SpectraWizard’s Choice for Newly Released James Webb Telescope Image goes to the “Cosmic Dance”

After considerable review of NASA’s recently released James Webb space telescope images, the SpectraWizard has chosen the “Cosmic Dance” image of Stephan’s Quintet to be his favorite. This really comes as no surprise as we all know that the SpectraWizard likes to party!  Stephan’s Quintet is a visual grouping of five galaxies of which four form the first compact galaxy group ever discovered. The group, visible in the constellation Pegasus, was discovered by Édouard Stephan in 1877 at the Marseille Observatory.  Additional photo’s recently released by NASA were:

— The Southern Ring Nebula, which is sometimes called “eight-burst.’ About 2,500 light-years away, it shows an expanding cloud of gas surrounding a dying star. A light-year is 5.8 trillion miles.

— Carina Nebula, one of the bright stellar nurseries in the sky, about 7,600 light-years away.

—Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail. Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – have appeared in Webb’s view for the first time. 

If you are interested in Astrospectroscopy or photography and you don’t have quite the budget as NASA, check out some of the SpectraWizard’s posts on using mini rugged spectrometers to connect with telescopes down on earth.

Check out the SpectraWizard’s other posts on Astrospectroscopy
Analyzing Astrophotography Filters- The SpectraWizard captures the Orion Nebula
Analyzing the Spectrum of Sirius: SpectraWizard Spots “The Dog Star”
Analyzing the Spectrum of Betelgeuse the Valentine’s Day Star
The SpectraWizard Goes Stellar- AstroSpectroscopy Basics