NASA space telescope's first cosmic view goes deep

Our view of the universe just expanded The first image from NASAs new space telescope unveiled Monday is brimming with galaxies and offers the deepest look of the cosmos ever capturedThe first image from the 10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is the farthest humanity has ever seen in both time and distance closer to the dawn of time and the edge of the universe That image will be followed Tuesday by the release of four more galactic beauty shots from the telescopes initial outward gazesThe deep field image released at a White House event is filled with lots of stars with massive galaxies in the foreground and faint and extremely distant galaxies peeking through here and there Part of the image is light from not too long after the Big Bang which was 138 billion years agoSeconds before he unveiled it President Joe Biden marveled at the image he said showed the oldest documented light in the history of the universe from over 13 billion let me say that again 13 billion years ago Its hard to fathomThe first image from the Webb Space Telescope represents a historic moment for science and technology For astronomy and space explorationAnd for America and all humanity pictwittercomcI2UUQcQXjmdash President Biden POTUS July 11 2022Also read Floodbasalt volcanic eruptions might warm climate destroy ozone layer NASAThe busy image with hundreds of specks streaks spirals and swirls of white yellow orange and red is only one little speck of the universe NASA Administrator Bill Nelson saidThe pictures on tap for Tuesday include a view of a giant gaseous planet outside our solar system two images of a nebula where stars are born and die in spectacular beauty and an update of a classic image of five tightly clustered galaxies that dance around each otherThe worlds biggest and most powerful space telescope rocketed away last December from French Guiana in South America It reached its lookout point 1 million miles 16 million kilometers from Earth in January Then the lengthy process began to align the mirrors get the infrared detectors cold enough to operate and calibrate the science instruments all protected by a sunshade the size of a tennis court that keeps the telescope coolThe plan is to use the telescope to peer back so far that scientists will get a glimpse of the early days of the universe about 137 billion years ago and zoom in on closer cosmic objects even our own solar system with sharper focusWebb is considered the successor to the highly successful but aging Hubble Space Telescope Hubble has stared as far back as 134 billion years It found the light wave signature of an extremely bright galaxy in 2016 Astronomers measure how far back they look in lightyears with one lightyear being 58 trillion miles 93 trillion kilometersWebb can see backwards in time to just after the Big Bang by looking for galaxies that are so far away that the light has taken many billions of years to get from those galaxies to our telescopes said Jonathan Gardner Webbs deputy project scientist said during the media briefingHow far back did that first image look Over the next few days astronomers will do intricate calculations to figure out just how old those galaxies are project scientist Klaus Pontoppidan said last monthThe image is spectacularly deeper than a similar one taken by Hubble but its unclear how far back were looking Richard Ellis professor of astrophysics at University College London said by email More info is neededThe deepest view of the cosmos is not a record that will stand for very long Pontoppidan said since scientists are expected to use the Webb telescope to go even deeperThomas Zurbuchen NASAs science mission chief said when he saw the images he got emotional and so did his colleagues Its really hard to not look at the universe in new light and not just have a moment that is deeply personalAt 21 feet 64 meters Webbs goldplated flowershaped mirror is the biggest and most sensitive ever sent into space Its comprised of 18 segments one of which was smacked by a bigger than anticipated micrometeoroid in May Four previous micrometeoroid strikes to the mirror were smaller Despite the impacts the telescope has continued to exceed mission requirements with barely any data loss according to NASANASA is collaborating on Webb with the European and Canadian space agenciesIm now really excited as this dramatic progress augurs well for reaching the ultimate prize for many astronomers like myself pinpointing Cosmic Dawn the moment when the universe was first bathed in starlight Ellis saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever