Webb observes the Hubble Ultra Deep Field

On 11 October 2022, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope spent over 20 hours observing the long-studied Ultra Deep Field of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope for the first time. The general observer program (GO 1963) focused on analysing the field in wavelengths between approximately 2 and 4 microns. This image was taken by the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam). Hubble’s view is presented on the left and Webb’s view is presented on the right.

The Webb image observes the field at depths comparable to Hubble – revealing galaxies of similar faintness – in just one-tenth as much observing time. It includes 1.8-micron light shown in blue, 2.1-micron light shown in green, 4.3-micron light shown in yellow, 4.6-micron light shown in orange, and 4.8-micron light shown in red (filters F182M, F210M, F430M, F460M, and F480M).

The Hubble image required 800 exposures taken over the course of 400 Hubble orbits around Earth. The total amount of exposure time was 11.3 days, taken between 24 September 2003 and 16 January 2004.

Note: This post highlights data from Webb science in progress, which has not yet been through the peer-review process. 

[Image Description: Two images are shown side-by-side of the same field of galaxies. On the left is the image from the Hubble Space Telescope. On the right is the image from the James Webb Space Telescope. Both images contain thousands of galaxies in various sizes, shapes, and colours.]

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