The first full-color photo from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has been
released, and it offers a glimpse of what our gigantic universe looks like. The image is a
first-of-its-kind and shows the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant
universe to date, according to NASA. In addition, it also displays the stars and galaxies
as they appeared 13 billion years ago.
President Joe Biden revealed the stunning images on Monday at the White House in
company with Vice President Kamala Harris and NASA officials. The image from the
$10 billion observatory shows SMACS 0723, where “a massive group of galaxy clusters
act as a magnifying glass for the objects behind them,” CNN reports. This created the
Webb’s first deep field view of “incredibly old and distant, faint galaxies.”
“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,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Just one little speck
of the universe.”
The image is composed of several other images taken at different wavelengths of light
over the course of 12.5 hours, ABC News states.
The telescope–which was launched in December– will be able to let scientists view
inside the atmospheres of exoplanets and observe some of the first galaxies created
after the universe began.
With this new tool at hand, scientists will be able to make new discoveries that could be
crucial to understanding the Cosmos.
“It’s not an image. It’s a new worldview,” Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of
NASA’s Science Mission Directorate said.
The rest of the high-resolution images will be released on Tuesday, including the
observatory’s first spectrum on an exoplanet and showing light emitted at different
wavelengths from a planet in another system.
