James Webb Space Telescope: An astronomer describes the first stunning and newly released images
The James Webb Space Telescope Team has released the first scientific-quality images of the new telescope. It contains the oldest galaxies ever seen by the human eye, evidence of the presence of water on a planet 1,000 light years away and incredible detail showing the birth and death of stars. Webb’s goal is to explore the origins – the universe, galaxies, stars and life – and the five images released on July 12, 2022, fulfill that promise. Once the instruments on board were cool and running smoothly, astronomers wasted no time getting Webb to work. Each first image contains sufficient data to produce its own primary scientific result. Webb was designed to collect light across the red to mid-infrared spectrum – the wavelengths of light that are blocked by Earth’s atmosphere. And with giant mirrors and shielding the infrared rays emitted by the Sun, Earth and Moon, Webb can produce images with a sharpness never before achieved by other telescopes. Rumors among professional astronom