James Webb Space Telescope First Image (the deepest image of the universe ever taken) has been released on 12 July 2022. The first full-color and high-resolution image from Nasa’s James Webb space telescope is out. During a White House event on Monday, July 11, President Joe Biden unveiled this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, also known as Webb’s First Deep Field During a live NASA TV broadcast Tuesday, July 12, NASA and its partners will release Webb’s first full-color images and data, known as spectra.
- James Webb’s infrared images of the distant universe represent the deepest and sharpest images ever taken by an infrared telescope. This image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, known as Webb’s First Deep Field, is filled with detail.
- For the first time, Webb’s view contains thousands of galaxies, including the faintest infrared objects ever observed. The slice of sky that appears in this picture is about the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length.
- By combining images taken at different wavelengths over 12.5 hours, Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) achieved depths at infrared wavelengths beyond the Hubble Space Telescope’s deepest fields. In this image, you can see SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago.
- As a result of the combined mass of these galaxy clusters, more distant galaxies are magnified by their gravitational lens. With Webb’s NIRCam, distant galaxies have been brought into sharp focus – they contain star clusters and diffuse features that have never been seen before.
- As Webb searches for the universe’s earliest galaxies, scientists will begin to learn more about their masses, ages, histories, and compositions.
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In advance of the release of the first science-quality images from the James Webb Space Telescope on July 12, NASA released test images taken by the telescope on 9th July 2022. A view of stars and galaxies created by the Canadian Space Agency’s Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) provides a tantalizing preview of what the telescope’s science instruments will uncover in the coming weeks, months, and years.
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James Webb Space Telescope Test Image – Important Points
The Webb mission is an international project led by NASA with partners ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.
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- Scientists at Webb say their result is one of the deepest images ever taken of the universe using 72 exposures over 32 hours.
- According to NASA, the engineering test image was taken during a thermal stability test in mid-May.
- In this image, FGS was acquired at the beginning of May in parallel with NIRCam images of HD147980.
- Guider 2 channel exposure time is 32 hours at several overlapping pointings.
- According to NASA, the image captures extremely faint objects despite not being optimized for detecting faint objects, and it is the deepest image of the infrared sky for now.
- The wavelength response of the guider, from 0.6 to 5 micrometers, is said to provide this extreme sensitivity.
- NASA describes the image as monochromatic with white-yellow-orange-red representing the progression of brightness from brightest to dimmest.
- According to NASA, the bright star (at 9.3 magnitudes) on the right-hand edge is 2MASS 16235798+2826079.
- This image only shows a few stars with diffraction spikes. Most of the other objects are faint galaxies in the high-redshift universe, though some of them are in the nearby universe as well.
- During the commissioning of Webb’s Fine Guidance Sensor, the guiders were defocused intentionally to ensure they met the telescope’s performance requirements.
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How To See James Webb Space Telescope First Image?
Less than two weeks remain until Webb’s first images and spectra are released on July 12! With just two more instrument modes to go, 15 out of 17 Webb modes are now ready for science. The first Webb science data and how to participate in the celebration of Webb science can be seen as we near the end of commissioning! You can #UnfoldTheUniverse with Webb in the following ways:
Countdown: How many minutes are left? Here is the official countdown: https://webb.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/countdown.html
Watch: NASA TV will reveal the images live at 10:30 am Eastern on July 12: https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
View: Do you just want to look at the amazing imagery? Images and spectra will be available at: https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages
Participate: Attend a Webb Space Telescope Community Event, either virtually or in person, in the coming months! Check out events near you at: https://webbtelescope.org/news/first-images/events
Socialize: Follow @NASA and @NASAWebb on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using #UnfoldTheUniverse!
Download: Download high-resolution images and supplemental content from: https://webbtelescope.org/news/first-images
Ask: Use #UnfoldtheUniverse to ask your questions about these first images and spectra on July 13 on NASA Science Live at: https://www.nasa.gov/nasasciencelive
NIRSpec instrument of NASA’s Webb Telescope is ready for science
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has completed the commissioning of three of its four science instruments. Before Webb’s instruments can begin conducting science, they need to be tested, calibrated, and ultimately verified.
Near-Infrared Spectrograph, or NIRSpec, the latest instrument to complete this process, has four key modes the team has officially confirmed.
During Webb’s commissioning process, the telescope’s first full-color images and spectroscopic data will be released on July 12, marking the start of its scientific mission.
James Webb Space Telescope First Image FAQs
The 1st image of the James Webb Space Telescope was released on July 12, 2022.
The test image of Webb’s telescope is released by NASA on its blog. The same has been shared in this article as well.
During the alignment of the mirror segments and focusing of the telescope, the first engineering target will be used before the first science target. That would probably be a star field or a relatively bright star.
Webb will be able to observe planets near or beyond Mars’ orbit, satellites, comets, asteroids, and objects in the Kuiper belt. At the wavelengths Webb can observe, many important molecules, ices, and minerals have distinctive signatures. Planetary and moon weather will also be monitored by Webb.
Webb’s mission lifetime was initially projected to be at least five and a half years. NASA discovered after the telescope was launched that it had enough propellant (fuel) to support scientific operations for more than 10 years.