Source : Map
12/07/2022 10:30
US President Joe Biden on Monday unveiled the first color image from NASA’s James Webb Telescope, which shows the power of the new space observatory with one of the deepest images of the universe ever taken.
The photo shows a cluster of galaxies so massive that it distorts the light of other galaxies behind it, acting like a magnifying glass in space and allowing the telescope to see distant and faint galaxies much farther away, according to NASA.
“This slice of the vast universe covers a patch of sky about the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground,” the space agency wrote in a description of the image. The rest of the very first images and data captured by the James Webb Telescope will be unveiled this morning.
One of the most anticipated sightings is the unveiling of the deepest image ever taken of the Universe, a feat that promises to surpass the record set by Hubble with its ultra-deep field that revolutionized astronomy in 2004 .
“You see galaxies shining around other galaxies whose light has been deflected, and you only see a very small part of the universe,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who was alongside Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. “These images will remind the world that America can do great things,” the US president said.
Now, scientists expect the JWST to change everything about how they understand the ancient history of our cosmos. Using infrared light, the telescope will be able to cut through cosmic dust and see further into the past than ever before, revealing the first galaxies and stars to form in an emerging universe.
According to NASA, the first batch of images will reveal minute details of star formation, the atmosphere of an exoplanet, a cluster of galaxies and a planetary nebula.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is a partnership with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.