First image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals deepest view of universe

Europe, News, US July 13, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

NASA has unveiled the first full-color image taken by the powerful James Webb Space Telescope, marking a major milestone as it allows deeper insight into the distant Universe than ever before.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has produced the “deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date,” showing thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – that have appeared in Webb’s view for the first time.

This image is filled with galaxies, some more than 13 billion years old, which means they formed just after the Big Bang. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second which means the light on one of those little specks have been traveling for over 13 billion years.

President Joe Biden and NASA administrator Bill Nelson released the first spectacular image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope at the White House in Washington. “This is the oldest documented light in the history of the universe from 13 billion — let me say that again, 13 billion — years ago,” Biden beamed.

“These images are going to remind the world that America can do big things, and remind the American people – especially our children – that there’s nothing beyond our capacity,” said President Biden in remarks during the event. “We can see possibilities no one has ever seen before. We can go places no one has ever gone before.”

Biden NASA James Webb — *^{U.S. President Joe Biden applauds upon seeing the first images from NASA’s Webb Space Telescope at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 11, 2022. (Image Credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)}*

“If you held a grain of sand on the tip of your finger at arm’s length, that is the part of the universe that you’re seeing. Just one little speck of the universe,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, describing the enormousness of the universe. “And what you’re seeing there are galaxies. You’re seeing galaxies that are shining around other galaxies whose light has been bent. And you’re seeing just a small little portion of the universe.”

Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). “This slice of the vast universe covers a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground” according to NASA.

The first photo is a composite made from images at different wavelengths, totaling 12.5 hours – achieving depths at infrared wavelengths beyond the Hubble Space Telescope’s deepest fields, which took weeks.

NASA will soon release additional images from the telescope, including a spectrum of an exoplanet.

^{A side-by-side view of Hubble vs James Webb. It takes two weeks for Hubble to gather enough light for the image while Webb requires only 12.5 hours. (Image Credit: Twitter)}

The $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), launched in 2021, is the successor to the famous Hubble Space Telescope. JWST is the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built, and because it uses infrared, it can see stars and galaxies far beyond the range of other telescopes that see primarily visible light.

James Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond distant worlds around other stars, and explore the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it, according to NASA.

The engineers and scientists describe James Webb as the “Time Machine” because it will allow astronomers and scientists to explore the origins of the universe and study the Big Bang more thoroughly.

James Webb has been named after the former NASA administrator who led NASA’s Apollo missions during the 1960s and played a key role in materializing the project for the moon landing.