NASA has released the first images from Webb’s telescope. You also took a “selfie” – PRAVDA.sk

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released the first images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) on Friday. There is also a “selfie” among the images, the AFP agency informed.

First shots presented by NASA are not intended for scientific analysis. JWST is not working yet. It continues to cool and slowly and carefully aligns its golden mirrors, which is necessary in order to properly observe the universe in infrared light. In order for astronomers to have usable images, the 18 segments of the hexagonal primary mirror must function as a single structure.

To achieve this alignment, JWST focuses on a specific star: HD 84406, 260 light-years from Earth and located in the constellation Ursa Major. Although HD 84406 is too bright to be a scientific target, it is ideal for “tuning” JWST.

In addition to the image of this star, NASA also presented a “selfie” of the primary mirror JWST. This image was not taken from the outside of the observatory, but one of the instruments: an infrared camera. It contains a lens specially designed for scanning mirror segments – once the mirrors have been aligned, this configuration will not be used in scientific observations.

One segment of the mirror in the presented image glows brighter than the others. This is because it was aimed at the bright star used to achieve JWST alignment. Thanks to this image, NASA was also able to obtain information about the progress of the alignment process.

NASA reiterated that the “low” image quality was not surprising, and acknowledged that it was unmatched by Hubble Space Telescope images.

Image quality is also related to the fact that JWST “is not yet at its peak”. In addition, although JWST will be fully prepared to “look into space,” it will certainly not take images with a spatial resolution better than the Hubble Telescope.

Many astronomers are aware that images from JWST are likely to be less visually impressive than those from the Hubble Telescope. However, the scientific progress they should make will be significant: with JWST, scientists will be able to delve even deeper into the past of the universe, study the light of the first galaxies and the birth of stars.

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