From cosmic descents in the Carina Nebula to the Pillars of Creation and a fiery protostar, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has released a gallery of cosmic images in 2022—but your favorite ones could reveal who you are.
The telescope’s official Twitter account shared a file tweet Friday with a personality-like quiz that asks users to choose their favorite photos from three groups of four.
Then NASA presents the attributes associated with the options.
Depending on the images chosen, you might be a time traveler, a stargazer, a homebody, or a trendsetter.
Time travelers may have an antique appearance, NASA says, while stargazers are constantly growing and changing, household objects stick to routine and fashion advances.
The first set of images in the NASA Challenge includes (A) Webb’s First Deep Field; (b) Cosmic slopes in the Carina Nebula. (c) Jupiter; and (d) Webb data showing the presence of water in the atmosphere of exoplanet WASP-96b
It’s been more than a year since NASA’s $10 billion telescope launched into space – and since then it has beamed stunning images of the universe in unprecedented detail.
Webb was launched from the Guyana Space Center on Christmas Day 2021 to take a look back in time to the dawn of the universe, so that it could capture what happened hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang.
The first set of images in the NASA Challenge includes (A) Webb’s First Deep Field; (b) Cosmic slopes in the Carina Nebula. (c) Jupiter; and (d) Webb data showing the presence of water in the atmosphere of exoplanet WASP-96b.
The second set of pictures shows (A) Stephan’s Quintet; (B) Pillars of Creation in near-infrared light. (c) Neptune’s rings and moons; and (d) the first clear evidence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet.
The final group includes (a) the cartwheel galaxy. (b) the L1527 cloud and a hidden protostar; (c) Saturn’s moon Titan; and (D) Webb’s first direct image of an exoplanet, HIP 65426 b.
All of these are never-before-seen glimpses of the wonders of the universe.
This is thanks to the Near Infrared Webcam (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), which sees light in the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
These techniques capture never-before-seen features and allow the telescope to look back in time only hundreds of thousands of years after the Big Bang.
And while the world is in awe of the images, NASA believes they say a lot about a person’s personality.
For those who mostly chose A in the three groups, the US space agency considers you a time traveler.
The words used to describe this one thrive on chaos, and are nostalgic and hipster in vintage style.
Just as looking at galaxies allows us to see billions of years into the past, your technique goes back in time. It may look antique. And thrive in chaos, like galactic mergers.
If most of your favorite Webb pictures are B-pictures, then you’re a dream stargazer, the star of the show, and still thinking things through.
Your head may be in the clouds. Just as nebulae often hold stars in the early stages of development, you are always growing and changing. Believe in yourself – you bring light into the universe. Keep shining,” NASA shared in the Twitter thread.
And for C, consider yourself a homebody.
The second set of pictures shows (A) Stephan’s Quintet; (B) Pillars of Creation in near-infrared light. (c) Neptune’s rings and moons; and (d) the first clear evidence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet.
The final group includes (a) the cartwheel galaxy. (b) the L1527 cloud and a hidden protostar; (c) Saturn’s moon Titan; and (D) Webb’s first direct image of an exoplanet, HIP 65426 b
Just as looking at galaxies allows us to see billions of years into the past, your technique goes back in time. It may look antique. And thrive in chaos, like galaxy mergers, NASA shared in a tweet
The words used to describe this group are introverted, thick-shelled, and someone who loves comfort and routine.
As an introvert, you prefer your own orbit. Rest and routine are fine with you. Like Titan, it may have a thick atmosphere. But if someone is in your orbit, they will see your hidden charms, according to the tweet.
The last group, D, is for trendsetters who are ahead of the curve, mysterious and would rather text than call someone.
Always being ahead of the (crossing) curve and planning your next move, it may seem a long way off at first. Just like the way we discover exoplanets indirectly, you might prefer text over a call. You keep us exciting,” NASA shared.
Your head may be in the clouds. Just as nebulae often hold stars in the early stages of development, you are always growing and changing. Believe in yourself – you bring light into the universe. Keep shining,” NASA shared in the Twitter thread
A fun quiz is a great way to cap off the year that marks the beginning of Webb’s epic quest.
Scientists predicted that the telescope, which now orbits the sun a million miles from Earth, should last 20 years.
The instruments are more efficient, and the optics are sharper and more stable. “We have more fuel and we use less fuel,” said Massimo Steavelli, chief of the Webb mission office at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
The infrared observatory orbiting it is designed to be about 100 times more powerful than its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope.
NASA likes to think of James Webb as Hubble’s successor rather than a replacement, as the two will be working together for a while.
As an introvert, you prefer your own orbit. Rest and routine are fine with you. Like Titan, it may have a thick atmosphere. But if someone is in your orbit, they will see your hidden charms, according to the tweet
Always being ahead of the (crossing) curve and planning your next move, it may seem a long way off at first. Just like the way we discover exoplanets indirectly, you might prefer text over a call. You keep us exciting,” NASA shared
The JWST project, which began in 1996, is an international collaboration led by NASA in partnership with European and Canadian space agencies.
If you enjoyed this article…
James Webb discovers spiral galaxies from the ‘cosmic noon’ of the early universe more than 8 billion years ago – the most distant the human eye has ever seen
NASA’s James Webb Telescope captures a stunning image of a “lonely” galaxy 3 million light-years away from the Milky Way
The Royal Astronomical Society has canceled NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope because of the namesake’s allegations against LGBT employees
“Twitteraholic. Total bacon fan. Explorer. Typical social media practitioner. Beer maven. Web aficionado.”