sci24007 — Announcement

Highlights from ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb in 2024

12 December 2024

- Owen Higgins -

2024 was another busy year for the ESA/Hubble/Webb science outreach team.

Webb has had another highly productive year of science operations, resulting in many new insights that we have been able to share with the public — too many to fully list here! Some of the highest-impact discoveries from Webb in the past year include a black hole and pristine gas in one of the most distant galaxies ever seen, evidence for the existence of a rocky planet atmosphere outside our Solar System, and candidates for the first young brown dwarfs outside the Milky Way galaxy.

Across Webb’s science goals and beyond, we were able to highlight a plethora of discoveries, many from science teams in Europe. Webb examined planets near and far with new images of Jupiter’s upper atmosphere and storms, and a direct image of one of the coldest exoplanets observed to date. Webb also detected icy ingredients for potentially habitable worlds, including ethanol. In the early Universe, Webb found ancient star clusters in the Cosmic Gems arc — a galaxy emitting light from only 460 million years after the Big Bang — and a merger of two black holes when the Universe was a mere 740 million years old. Webb’s unparalleled infrared capabilities allowed astronomers to probe extreme starburst activity in the galaxy M82, find evidence for a neutron star at the heart of the remnant of supernova SN 1987A, and investigate the origins of the Crab Nebula.

At the forefront of new image releases from Webb this year was our Picture of the Month series, featuring a new, original image each month. 2024’s releases included stars forming in the Perseus molecular cloud, the exotic stellar population of Westerlund 1, and gravitational lensing creating a jewelled ring of quasar RX J1131-1231. Webb’s second anniversary image was revealed in July, a vivid portrait of two interacting galaxies, the Penguin and the Egg. There was huge excitement from the public for further Webb photos, from a collection of nineteen spiral galaxies shown in exquisite detail, to protostars and outflows in the Serpens Nebula, to a familiar target shown in a new light with a MIRI image of the Sombrero Galaxy, well-known from its Hubble portrait.

The Hubble Space Telescope too delivered new results, as well as breathtaking new images, this year. A breakthrough was made with strong evidence for an intermediate-mass black hole in the star cluster Omega Centauri; other discoveries included water vapour in a small exoplanet’s atmosphere, and a black hole beam causing stars to erupt along its trajectory. We were treated to photos including a close-up of the colourful nebula surrounding star R Aquarii and Hubble’s 34th anniversary image of the Little Dumbbell Nebula, not to mention the continuing Picture of the Week series. With Hubble now coming up on its 35th year of operations, the ESA/Hubble team is preparing to celebrate this milestone — and for further discoveries in the coming years!

This year also brought further examples of Hubble and Webb being used together, to make the most of their complementary abilities. In October we featured a multi-wavelength view of a pair of spooky galaxies, the two telescopes uncovering the full story of star formation, stardust and supernovae that created this macabre sight. And with the use of Webb, the tension in measurements of the Hubble constant was confirmed, building on Hubble research and deepening the mystery. We also had the stunning new images from Webb of the Horsehead Nebula, which were showcased alongside images from Hubble and ESA’s Euclid telescope.

Looking ahead to ESA/Webb’s and ESA/Hubble’s activities in 2025, we want to continue to emphasise the role of ESA and the European astronomical community in the telescopes’ continued success, and the use of Hubble and Webb data by European institutions and scientists. ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb can help scientists by producing and distributing press releases, image processing, web articles, artists’ impressions, and high-definition videos — like the 2024 release highlights mentioned above. If you think any aspect of your research could be of interest to the public at large, or your observations might produce an image suitable for public release, please get in touch with us as early as possible so we can explore possible avenues for promoting your work!

In the meantime, we encourage you to follow the ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb social media channels to keep up with the latest updates about how European scientists and engineers are contributing to this mission. As always, we encourage you to reach out if you have any questions or ideas you’d like to discuss!

Contacts

Bethany Downer
ESA/Webb & ESA/Hubble Chief Science Communications Officer
E-mail: [email protected]