NASA has released the first image from the most powerful telescope ever launched into space. The image shared by US President Joe Biden at an event held at the White House reveals the oldest galaxies in the universe.
James Webb Space Telescope peeks into the birth of the universe
The image that will reshape our view of the birth of the universe includes galaxies 13 billion years away. The image, called SMACS 0723, is home to sharp details of many different galaxies. Joe Biden, on the other hand, stated that the shared image “offers a new window into the history of our universe.”
NASA administrator Bill Nelson said the image reveals light from galaxies that twist around other galaxies and travel for billions of years before reaching the telescope. Expressing that we are looking back more than 13 billion years, Nelson stated that other images to be published by the space agency will extend to 13.5 billion years ago.
This shared image is the first of a series of high-resolution color images taken from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that will be shared today (July 12, 2022) at 17:30. For the images to be shared, the expression “the deepest image of our universe ever taken” is used.
Experts say the telescope, which took three decades to build and was launched last year, could revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos by providing detailed infrared images of the universe.
Using a system of lenses, filters and prisms to detect signals in the infrared spectrum, invisible to the human eye, the $10 billion telescope can peer into the atmospheres of exoplanets and observe some of the oldest galaxies in the universe.
Development of the telescope, a joint effort with the European Space Agency, had been underway since the 1990s. The telescope, which was finally sent into space in December 2021, is now ready to take a look into the depths of space. James Webb, the most powerful telescope ever sent into space, is currently on a mission to scan ancient galaxies about 1.6 million kilometers from Earth.
The initial aim of the project was to see the first stars and galaxies formed after the big bang and to watch the first lights of the universe. Nasa said the JWST has five initial cosmic targets for observation, including the Carina Nebula, where stars form. The nebula is about 7,600 light-years away and is home to many enormous stars that are several times larger than the sun.
Other areas of focus include WASP-96 b, a giant largely gaseous planet outside our solar system; It includes the southern ring nebula, an expanding gas cloud surrounding a dying star 2,000 light-years from Earth, and Stephan’s quintet, notable for being the first compact group of galaxies discovered in 1877.
Images from these targets will be released by NASA today. You can follow the published images here. So what do you think about the James Webb Space Telescope and the first image shared? You can share your views with us in the comments section.
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