James Webb telescope's new images of stars, galaxies and an ...

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(CNN) A stellar nursery where stars are born, interactions between galaxies and a unique view of an exoplanet are just some of the new cosmic images were shared Tuesday.

After decades of waiting, it's finally time for the world to see the first images taken bythe most powerful space telescope ever -- the James Webb Space Telescope

Development of the world's premier space observatory began in 2004, and after years of delays, the telescope and its massive gold mirror finally launched on December 25.

The images are worth the wait -- and they will forever change the way we see the universe.

President Joe Biden released one of Webb's first images on Monday, and it is "the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date," according to NASA. The rest of the high-resolution color images made their debut on Tuesday.

The space observatory can investigate the mysteries of the universe by observing them through infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye.

Webb will peer into the very atmospheres of exoplanets , some of which are potentially habitable, and it could uncover clues in the ongoing search for life outside of Earth.

The telescope will also look at every phase of cosmic history, including the first glows after the big bang that created our universe and the formation of the galaxies, stars and planets that fill it today.

Now, Webb is ready to help us understand the origins of the universe and begin to answer key questions about our existence, such as where we came from and if we're alone in the cosmos.

The first images

The first image, released on Monday, shows SMACS 0723, where a massive group of galaxy clusters act as a magnifying glass for the objects behind them. Called gravitational lensing, this created Webb's first deep field view that includes incredibly old and faint galaxies.

The image of SMACS 0723 is "the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date," according to NASA.

Some of these distant galaxies and star clusters have never been seen before. The galaxy cluster is shown as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago.

The image, taken by Webb's Near-Infrared Camera, is composed of images taken at different wavelengths of light over a collective 12.5 hours. Deep field observations are lengthy observations of regions of the sky that can reveal faint objects.

Webb's other primary targets for the first image release included the Carina Nebula, WASP-96 b, the Southern Ring Nebula and Stephan's Quintet.

Webb's study of the giant gas planet WASP-96 b is the most detailed spectrum of an exoplanet to date. The spectrum includes different wavelengths of light that reveal new information about the planet and its atmosphere. Discovered in 2014, WASP-96 b is located 1,150 light-years from Earth. It has half the mass of Jupiter and completes an orbit around its star every 3.4 days.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captured a spectrum of WASP-96 b.

Webb's spectrum includes "the distinct signature of water, along with evidence for clouds and haze, in the atmosphere surrounding a hot, puffy gas giant planet orbiting a distant Sun-like star," according to NASA.

The observation demonstrates "Webb's unprecedented ability to analyze atmospheres hundreds of light-years away," according to NASA.

In the future, Webb will capture actual images of known exoplanets while also searching for unknown planets, said Knicole Colón, Webb deputy project scientist for exoplanet science at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, during a news conference. And the spectrium of WASP-96 b is "barely scratching the surface of what we're going to learn."

Colón anticipates that scientists will determine just how much water is in the exoplanet's atmosphere.

The Southern Ring Nebula, also called the "Eight-Burst," is 2,000 light-years away from Earth. This large planetary nebula includes an expanding cloud of gas around a dying star. Webb helped reveal previously hidden details about the nebula, which is a shell of gas and dust released by the dying star. The nebula's second star can be seen in the Webb image, as well as how the stars shape the gas and dust cloud.

The second star is surrounded by dust while the brighter star, at an earlier stage of evolution, will release its own cloud of gas and dust later on. As the two stars orbit one another, they effectively "stir" the gas and dust, resulting in the patterns seen in the image.

The insights from images like this could help astronomers to unlock how stars change their environments as they evolve. Multi-colored points of light in the background represent galaxies.

The space telescope's view of Stephan's Quintet shows the way galaxies interact with one another. This compact galaxy group, first discovered in 1787, is located 290 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. Four of the five galaxies in the group "are locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters," according to a NASA statement.

If you've ever watched "It's a Wonderful Life," you've seen Stephan's Quintet. Now, Webb has revealed the galactic grouping in a new mosaic which is the telescope's largest image to date.

"The information from Webb provides new insights into how galactic interactions may have driven galaxy evolution in the early universe," according to NASA.

The Stephan's Quintet image provides a rare glimpse into how galaxies can trigger star formation in one another when they interact, as well as outflows driven by a black hole at a new level of detail.

The gravitational dance between these galaxies can be seen through tails of gas, dust and stars and even shock waves as one of the galaxies pushes through the cluster.

Located 7,600 light-years away, the Carina Nebula is a stellar nursery, where stars are born. It is one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky and home to many stars much more massive than our sun.

Now, its "Cosmic Cliffs" are revealed in an incredible new Webb image.

Webb's ability to see through cosmic dust has revealed previously invisible areas of star birth within the nebula, which could provide new insight on the formation of stars. The earliest stages of star formation are harder to capture -- but something Webb's sensitivity can chronicle.

What looks like a landscape in the image is really a massive gaseous cavity with "peaks" reaching 7 light-years high.

"The cavernous area has been carved from the nebula by the intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from extremely massive, hot, young stars located in the center of the bubble, above the area shown in this image," according to NASA. And what looks like "steam" rising off the "mountains" is hot, energetic gas and dust.

The targets were selected by an international committee, including members from NASA, the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

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A long future of observation

The mission, originally expected to last for 10 years, has enough excess fuel capability to operate for 20 years, according to NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy.

These will be just the first of many images to come from Webb over the next two decades, which promises to fundamentally alter the way we understand the cosmos.

While some of what Webb could reveal has been anticipated, the unknowns are just as exciting to scientists.

"We don't know what we don't know yet," said Amber Straughn, Webb deputy project scientist for communications at NASA Goddard. "I think it's true that every time we launch a revolutionary instrument into space, like with Hubble, we learn things that completely surprise us but do cause us to sort of change our fundamental understanding of how the universe works."

Hubble's 31 years have yielded a wealth of discoveries that couldn't be anticipated, and the scientific community views Webb and its capabilities in the same way.

When comparing Webb's first images to other breakthroughs in astronomy, Webb program scientist and NASA Astrophysics Division chief scientist Eric Smith compared it to seeing Hubble's images after the telescope was repaired and everything snapped into focus.

"A lot of people sometimes see pictures of space and they think it makes them feel small," Smith said. "When I see these pictures, they make me feel powerful. A team of people can make this unbelievable instrument to find out things about the universe revealed here, and just seeing that pride in the team, and pride in humanity, that when we want to, we can do that."

"The universe has (always) been out there," said Jane Rigby, Webb operations project scientist at NASA Goddard. "We just had to build a telescope to go see what was there. Yeah, very similar feeling of, maybe, people in a broken world managing to do something right and to see some of the majesty that is out there."

NASA shares teaser for Webb telescope's first image release | CNN

(CNN) Get ready to see some awe-inspiring views of the universe as we've never seen it before.

The James Webb Space Telescope will release its first high-resolution color images on July 12, one of which "is the deepest image of our universe that has ever been taken," according to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

The space observatory, which launched in December, will be able to peer inside the atmospheres of exoplanets and observe some of the first galaxies created after the universe began by viewing them through infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye.

The first image release will highlight Webb's science capabilities as well as the ability of its massive golden mirror and science instruments to produce spectacular images.

The first five cosmic targets of Webb were shared by NASA on Friday, providing a teaser for what we can expect to see in the image release. The targets were selected by an international committee, including members from NASA, the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope: President Biden reveals ...

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(CNN) The first glimpse of how the James Webb Space Telescope will change the way people see the universe has arrived.

The image shows SMACS 0723, where a massive group of galaxy clusters act as a magnifying glass for the objects behind them. Called gravitational lensing, this created Webb's first deep field view of incredibly old and distant, faint galaxies.

The presentation occurred at the White House during a preview event with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

"It is the deepest image of our universe that has ever been taken" in infrared, according to Nelson.

Some of these distant galaxies and star clusters have never been seen before. The galaxy cluster is shown as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago.

"This slice of the vast universe covers a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm's length by someone on the ground," according to a NASA release.

The image, taken by Webb's Near-Infrared Camera, is composed of images taken at different wavelengths of light over the course of 12.5 hours. The Hubble Space Telescope's deepest fields took weeks to capture.

The rest of the high-resolution color images will make their debut on Tuesday, July 12.

The space observatory, which launched in December, will be able to peer inside the atmospheres of exoplanets and observe some of the first galaxies created after the universe began by viewing them through infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye.

The first image release highlights Webb's science capabilities as well as the ability of its massive golden mirror and science instruments to produce spectacular images.

There are several events taking place during Tuesday's image release, and all of them will stream live on NASA's website

Opening remarks by NASA leadership and the Webb team will begin Tuesday at 9:45 a.m. ET, followed by an image release broadcast that kicks off at 10:30 a.m. ET. Images will be revealed one by one, and a news conference at 12:30 p.m. ET will offer details about them.

The first images

NASA shared Webb's first cosmic targets on Friday, providing a teaser for what else Tuesday's image release will include: the Carina Nebula, WASP-96b, the Southern Ring Nebula and Stephan's Quintet.

Located 7,600 light-years away, the Carina Nebula is a stellar nursery, where stars are born. It is one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky and home to many stars much more massive than our sun.

Webb's study of the giant gas planet WASP-96b will be the first full-color spectrum of an exoplanet. The spectrum will include different wavelengths of light that could reveal new information about the planet, such as whether it has an atmosphere. Discovered in 2014, WASP-96b is located 1,150 light-years from Earth. It has half the mass of Jupiter and completes an orbit around its star every 3.4 days.

This test image was taken by Webb's Fine Guidance Sensor over a period of eight days at the beginning of May. It shows how Webb can capture detailed images of very faint objects.

The Southern Ring Nebula, also called the "Eight-Burst," is 2,000 light-years away from Earth. This large planetary nebula includes an expanding cloud of gas around a dying star.

The space telescope's view of Stephan's Quintet will reveal the way galaxies interact with one another. This compact galaxy group, first discovered in 1787, is located 290 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. Four of the five galaxies in the group "are locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters," according to a NASA statement.

The targets were selected by an international committee, including members from NASA, the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

Looking ahead

These will be the first of many images to come from Webb, the most powerful telescope ever launched into space. The mission, originally expected to last for 10 years, has enough excess fuel capability to operate for 20 years, according to NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy.

"Webb can see backwards in time just after the big bang by looking for galaxies that are so far away, the light has taken many billions of years to get from those galaxies to ourselves," said Jonathan Gardner, Webb deputy senior project scientist at NASA, during a recent news conference. "Webb is bigger than Hubble so that it can see fainter galaxies that are further away."

The initial goal for the telescope was to see the first stars and galaxies of the universe, essentially watching "the universe turn the lights on for the first time," said Eric Smith, Webb program scientist and NASA Astrophysics Division chief scientist.

Smith has worked on Webb since the project began in the mid-1990s.

"The James Webb Space Telescope will give us a fresh and powerful set of eyes to examine our universe," Smith wrote in an update on NASA's website. "The world is about to be new again."

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that the image is the deepest view of the universe to date in infrared.

'Deepest image of our universe' ever taken by Webb Telescope will ...

(CNN) We're about to have an entirely new perspective on the universe.

The James Webb Space Telescope will release its first high-resolution color images on July 12. One of those images "is the deepest image of our universe that has ever been taken," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson during a news conference on Wednesday.

"If you think about that, this is farther than humanity has ever moved before," Nelson said. "And we're only beginning to understand what Webb can and will do. It's going to explore objects in the solar system and atmospheres of exoplanets orbiting other stars, giving us clues as to whether potentially their atmospheres are similar to our own."

Nelson, who shared that he tested positive for Covid-19 Tuesday night, was unable to attend the event in person at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

The Webb mission, which was estimated to last for 10 years, has enough excess fuel capability to operate for 20 years, according to NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy.

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Webb telescope's first test images include an unexpected 'selfie' - CNN

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(CNN) The James Webb Space Telescope is setting up shop while it chills out a million miles from Earth.

The observatory shared its first selfie from space after testing its iconic gold mirror and Near Infrared Camera.

Webb has been in the process of cooling down and aligning its mirror segments since February 2, after reaching its orbital point beyond the moon on January 24 . The telescope launched to space on December 25 and will serve as NASA's most complex and powerful observatory yet.

If the images look a little blurry, that's to be expected, Webb team members said. Right now, the telescope is still in the commissioning phase before it begins collecting data and science observations this summer, when dazzling new images of our universe are expected to be released.

Capturing starlight

Webb's latest challenge was a trial run of the Near Infrared Camera, or NIRCam, identifying dots of starlight from the same star in each of the 18 hexagonal segments of its massive mirror. The telescope aimed its mirrors at a bright solitary star in the Ursa Major constellation called HD 84406.

"This star was chosen specifically because it is easily identifiable and not crowded by other stars of similar brightness, which helps to reduce background confusion," according to the Webb team.

Webb created a mosaic of 18 points of starlight when mirror segments reflected this light back at the telescope's small secondary mirrors and into NIRCam's detectors.

Images like the ones NASA shared on Friday can help the Webb team make sure the mirrors are perfectly aligned before the observatory sets its sights on exoplanets and distant galaxies, forever changing the way we see the universe.

Over the next month, careful adjustments will unite the mirror segments so those 18 dots become an image of a single star.

"The entire Webb team is ecstatic at how well the first steps of taking images and aligning the telescope are proceeding. We were so happy to see that light makes its way into NIRCam," said Marcia Rieke, principal investigator for the NIRCam instrument and regents professor of astronomy at University of Arizona, in a statement.

The mosaic of 18 dots is the result of Webb capturing 1,560 images over the course of 25 hours, although the observatory was able to find the star during the first six hours and using just 16 images. The 18 points are just the center of a giant mosaic with more than 2 billion pixels.

These spots of starlight are just the center of a massive mosaic captured by Webb as it focused on a single star.

"This initial search covered an area about the size of the full Moon because the segment dots could potentially have been that spread out on the sky," said Marshall Perrin, deputy telescope scientist for Webb and astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, in a statement.

The mirror selfie was captured by a special lens inside NIRCam that can image the primary mirror rather than what Webb sees in space. The lens mainly exists for engineering and alignment, so it was a bonus image that made the Webb team say "holy cow," said Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope element manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Keeping a deep freeze to operate

Webb's orbit will keep the telescope in line with Earth as our planet orbits the sun. This alignment protects the telescope from the heat released by the sun, Earth and even the moon.

It's imperative that the telescope stay cool because it will observe the universe in infrared light and detect the faintest signals from objects in our distant universe. Because infrared light can be detected as heat, the entire spacecraft needs to be shielded from bright sources of heat.

The spacecraft includes a five-layer sunshield to protect Webb's giant mirror and instruments from the sun's blistering rays. Webb's equipment needs to be kept at a very frigid negative 370 degrees Fahrenheit (negative 223 degrees Celsius) to operate.

Some of Webb's instruments need to be even colder to operate, so they will continue to cool down over the next few months. Future images captured by Webb will only become clearer and more detailed as the spacecraft cools and the mirrors align.

"This amazing telescope has not only spread its wings, but it has now opened its eyes," Feinberg said.

What is the James Webb Space Telescope? | The Week UK

The first image from the world’s most advanced telescope has offered a remarkable snapshot back towards the very beginning of the universe. US President Joe Biden unveiled the image of a galaxy cluster dating back 4.6 billion years during an event at the White House on Monday. But as The Guardian pointed out, “it is the other galaxies in the image that have astronomers most excited”. These more distant galaxies “are about 13bn years old”, the paper said. “It is the farthest humanity has ever seen in both time and distance,” Sky News reported, “closer to the dawn of time and the edge of the universe, with part of the image showing light from soon after the Big Bang.” Nasa administrator Bill Nelson said: “We’re looking back more than 13 billion years… and we’re going further… this is just the first image and since we know the universe is 13.8 billion years old, we’re going back almost to the beginning. “It is going to be so precise you are going to see whether or not planets are habitable. And when you look at something as big as this we’re going to be able to answer questions that we don’t even know what the questions are yet,” he added. A long journey… just to get off the ground The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been jointly developed by Nasa, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. Originally planned in the 1990s to launch around 2007 and to cost $500m, the complexity of the technology and later additions meant the final bill was over $10bn. However, “after three decades of design and construction, plagued by delays and cost overruns”, JWST had a perfect launch on Christmas Day last year, said the Financial Times. It was assembled at the Northrop Grumman factory in California, then sent by ship through the Panama Canal to the launch site in Kourou, French Guiana. Skip advert An Ariane 5 rocket, an ultra-reliable European launch vehicle, then took it on a 26-minute journey into space before it reached its desired orbit around the Sun, a million miles from Earth at a point known as L2. It is one of five “Lagrange points” where the gravitational pulls of the Earth and the Sun balance each other out so spacecraft can maintain a stable position relative to both without using too much fuel.

“To the surprise of even some of those who built it, JWST unpacked itself flawlessly once safely in orbit in January – with each segment of its mirror now perfectly aligned,” said Sky News. It weighs almost 6.5 tonnes and fully unfolded is the size of a tennis court. It is expected to operate for at least ten years, although its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, is still working after 32 years in orbit. Who is it named after? James Webb was the second administrator of Nasa, leading the American space agency during many of the Apollo moon missions in the 1960s. He also served as the US under-secretary of state from 1949 to 1952. However, the decision to name the telescope after him has proved controversial. The Guardian reported there have been “renewed calls from astronomers for Nasa to rename the instrument amid allegations Webb was complicit in historical persecution of LGBTQ+ people”. He is associated with the so-called Lavender Scare witch-hunt that resulted in the mass dismissal of gay and lesbian people from US government service in the mid-20th century. A petition to rename the telescope has so far been signed by more than 1,700 people in the astronomy community, the paper said. What will the JWST be able to see? The telescope has unprecedented capabilities. It will look about five times further and thus – because light takes time to travel – much further back into history than any observatory before. It will be sensitive enough to “see” all the way back to the first generation of stars that burst forth from the maelstrom of hot gas in the universe 13.5 billion years ago, just 300 million years after the Big Bang. It is able to watch the births of ancient stars and galaxies usually obscured by vast clouds of dust: most of the light from these new stars is absorbed by the surrounding dust, and they are therefore hidden to normal optical telescopes. How is this telescope different? The JWST was conceived in 1989 as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope which, at the time, was about to be launched. Whereas Hubble looks at the universe mostly using visible light, the JWST observes infrared light – electromagnetic radiation invisible to the human eye – allowing it to see further. Skip advert Its Optical Telescope Element collects light using a primary mirror that is the largest ever launched into space: 6.5 metres in diameter (compared to the Hubble’s 2.4 metres), and consisting of 18 gold-plated hexagons made out of the metal beryllium. The telescope has to stay very cold as stray heat signals would interfere with the infrared detectors. How does it stay cold? The optical telescope has to sit atop a shield, made from a five-layered sandwich of metal foils, that will protect the main mirror and its sensitive instruments from the heat and radiation of the Sun. The cold side of the shield, where the instruments will be, will be extremely cold at –234°C.

James Webb telescope first images space

NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI Webb's landscape-like view, called "Cosmic Cliffs," is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. The telescope's infrared view reveals previously invisible areas of star birth. Observing the universe with the James Webb Space Telescope

NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI Webb's landscape-like view, called "Cosmic Cliffs," is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. The telescope's infrared view reveals previously invisible areas of star birth.

The James Webb Space Telescope has shared its first high-resolution images, providing unprecedented views of the universe.

The telescope is expected to shed light on the life cycles of planets, stars and galaxies and reveal mysteries of the universe.

It has enough fuel to operate for the next 20 years and will change the way people understand the cosmos.

James Webb Space Telescope shares new image after reaching ...

(CNN) The James Webb Space Telescope has taken one giant step closer in its mission to unlock the mysteries of the universe.

The world's premier space observatory has successfully completed a number of steps crucial for aligning its 18 gold mirror segments. Having checked this milestone off of Webb's list, the telescope team expects that the observatory may even exceed the goals it was meant to achieve.

Webb will be able to peer inside the atmospheres of exoplanets and observe some of the first galaxies created after the universe began by observing them through infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye.

On March 11, Webb completed "fine phasing," a critical stage that ensures Webb's optical capabilities are working how they should. During the tests, the team didn't encounter any issues and determined that Webb can observe light from distant objects and feed that light into the science instruments aboard the observatory.

For the test, Webb focused on a star called 2MASS J17554042+6551277. A red filter was used to show contrast. Webb's observational capabilities are so sensitive that individual galaxies and stars can also be seen behind the star in the image.

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The James Webb Space Telescope is fully aligned and ready to ...

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The space observatory's massive mirror, capable of peering into the most distant reaches of space, is now completely aligned, according to the NASA's Webb team

Hailed as the world's premier space observatory, Webb has successfully completed a number of steps within the past few months that were crucial for aligning its 18 gold mirror segments.

The mirror is so large that it had to be folded to fit inside the rocket for its December 25 launch. After reaching an orbit a million miles from Earth in January, Webb began the careful process of unfolding and aligning its mirror.

Webb will be able to peer inside the atmospheres of exoplanets and observe some of the first galaxies created after the universe began by observing them through infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye.

The first high-resolution images Webb collects of the cosmos aren't expected until the end of June since the observatory's instruments still need to be calibrated. But test results released by NASA on Thursday show the clear, well-focused images that the observatory's four instruments are capable of capturing. Together, these images share the telescope's full field of view. Webb's mirrors are directing focused light from space into each instrument and those instruments are capturing images.

Each of Webb's instruments captured crystal clear images of stars in a neighboring galaxy.

For the test, Webb observed a small neighboring satellite galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. The galaxy's dense field of hundreds of thousands of stars can be seen in the test images.

"These remarkable test images from a successfully aligned telescope demonstrate what people across countries and continents can achieve when there is a bold scientific vision to explore the universe," said Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope element manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

The telescope team expects that the observatory may even exceed the goals it was meant to achieve because it's already performing better than expected.

"These images have profoundly changed the way I see the universe," said Scott Acton, Webb wavefront sensing and controls scientist at Ball Aerospace, in a statement. "We are surrounded by a symphony of creation; there are galaxies everywhere! It is my hope that everyone in the world can see them."

A previous image shared in March also showed that Webb can use the individual segments of its mirror as one giant 21-foot, 4-inch (6.5-meter) mirror and capture the light from a single star.

Galaxies and stars can be seen behind the star 2MASS J17554042+6551277 in this image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope in March.

For the next couple months, the team will ensure all of the science instruments are calibrated.

Each instrument has a number of specialized detectors with custom equipment to help achieve Webb's science objectives, and all of the instruments have to be configured before they can be declared ready.

And this summer, we'll see Webb's first glimpses that could unlock the mysteries of the universe.

James Webb Space Telescope captures sharp views of invisible ...

(CNN) The James Webb Space telescope has the sharpest perspective on otherwise invisible light in the universe.

The highly anticipated first science images by the world's premier space observatory aren't expected until this summer. But recent test images captured by the telescope during its final commissioning phase are providing a glimpse of what's to come.

"These are the sharpest infrared images ever taken by a space telescope," said Michael McElwain, Webb observatory project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, during a news conference Monday.

Webb will be able to peer inside the atmospheres of exoplanets and observe some of the first galaxies created after the universe began by observing them through infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye. The images were taken after the successful alignment of the telescope's massive golden mirror segments. The test images show the clear, well-focused images that the observatory's four instruments are capable of capturing.

But the most striking result came from a comparison of images taken of the same target by Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument with the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope's Infrared Array Camera.

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