the first image of NASA’s James webb The Space Telescope has been unveiled, showing what is said to be the “deepest” and most detailed view of the cosmos yet.
The image, known as Webb’s First Deep Field, shows a cluster of galaxies called SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago.
The image was unveiled by the US President Joe Biden on Monday night at an event at the White House.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson said the photo represented “just a small piece of the vast universe.”
He said: “Webb’s First Deep Field is not only the first full-color image from the James Webb Space Telescope, it is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant Universe to date.
“This image covers a patch of sky about the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length.”
The telescope lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from the European spaceport in French Guyana on Christmas Day last year on his mission to unlock the secrets of the universe.
The image was taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and is a composite made of images at different wavelengths.
The combined mass of the galaxy cluster acts like a gravitational lens, magnifying the distant galaxies beyond.
Webb’s NIRCam has imaged those distant galaxies, revealing tiny, fuzzy structures never seen before.
Researchers will soon learn about the masses, ages, histories and compositions of the galaxies as Webb tries to look at the earliest galaxies in the universe.
NASA and its partners, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Canadian Space Agency, will release the full series of Webb’s first full-color images on Tuesday during a live NASA TV broadcast.
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said: “What an incredible honor for ESA and its international partners to unveil Webb’s first image of the White House.
“Only with teamwork, dedication and the human drive to push boundaries and explore have we arrived at this historic moment of the deepest view of the early universe to date.”