James Webb Space Telescope makes a brilliant photo of distant galaxies
On Monday, June 11th, the first photo of galaxies formed more than 13 billion years ago was revealed to the world. The stars of this image were birthed shortly after the Big Bang. The historical picture was made by the James Webb Space Telescope and is its first photo since launch in December 2021. Taking just the right shot took this «beginner photographer» 12,5 hours.
NASA has already declared James Webb’s first work the most detailed and clear infrared photo in the history of astronomical observation. The telescope didn’t just make a snapshot of the SMACS 0723 galaxy cluster. It also used that same cluster as a gravitational lens.
Through it James Webb looked even further beyond, at stars and planets SMACS 0723 usually hides from our eyes. The resulting photo shows us thousands of objects, some of them never seen by human eye before.
And even though this is an accomplishment, NASA says that James Webb Space Telescope can photograph cosmic objects even farther removed from Earth. Some astronomers already believe this photo to signify a new era for astronomy. And ordinary denizens of Earth certainly can expect more beautiful space photos from the telescope.
