The $ 10 billion observatory – which was launched in December last year – currently orbits the sun at a distance of 1.5 million kilometers. land- Thanks to the massive primary mirror and the instruments with infrared focus, it can go where no telescope has been before, so it can see through dust and gas.
The first test image
The first fully developed images will be released on July 12, but it Pot Presented Wednesday by A Technical test imageThe result of 72 exposures over 32 hours, showing a cluster of distant stars and galaxies.
However, the image has some “rough” qualities, NASA said in a statement It is “among the deepest images of the universe ever taken.” And gives a “promising view” of what will be revealed in the coming weeks, months and years.
James Webb full test image.jpg
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“When the image was taken, I was excited to clearly see the detailed structure of these faint galaxies,” said Neil Rowlands, a researcher in the telescopic orientation sensor program at Honeywell Aerospace.
Eliminate galaxies
“The blurry dots in this image are typical of distant galaxies,” said Jane Rigby, a web operations scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Bill Nelson, administrator pot, announced last week James Webb It is able to look deeper into the universe than any other telescope.
“It will examine the material in the solar system and the atmospheres of exoplanets orbiting other stars, and reveal the extent to which these atmospheres are similar to our own,” Nelson said.
“It will answer some questions such as: Where do we come from? What else is out there? Who are we? It will answer questions that we certainly do not ask, “he added.
Web’s infrared capabilities allow him to see the Big Bang, which happened 13.8 billion years ago.
Due to the expanding nature of the universe, the light from the first stars varied from ultraviolet wavelengths in the visible spectrum that are emitted to longer in the infrared range. The Internet is equipped to detect them with unparalleled resolution.
The earliest cosmological observations date back to 330 million years after the Big Bang, but astronomers believe that with Web’s capabilities, this record can easily be surpassed.
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