NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has shown us the farthest we have ever seen of our universe. The first image from the telescope dubbed ‘Webb’s First Deep Field’ was unveiled by US President Joe Biden. #JWST_HST_SciVI
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The Webb telescope is one of the most expensive scientific instruments ever built. From the first image, it seems that the estimated $10 billion was well spent. With JWST, we will see more of the universe than we ever imagined seeing.
The image unveiled by NASA shows us a never-seen-before view of a galaxy cluster called SMACS 0723. It covers a patch of this sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length.
The image by JWST captured starlight from objects that formed only a few million years after the Big Bang. The starlight is older than 13 billion years.
JWST was launched in 2021 and is orbiting in a region called the second Lagrange point. Its primary mirror is over 21 feet and uses 18 gold-coated mirror segments.
The first image by the telescope of distant galaxies was made possible by its NIRcam (Near-Infrared camera), as light from the early universe has been stretched out by the time it reached us.
In its first 5 months, part of Webb’s observing time is dedicated to Early Release Science program, which includes exploration of galaxy formation & evolution from cosmic dawn. The first image is part of this program. The next set of images will be released at 7:30pm IST today.
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