U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled the first image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope—an image of a galaxy cluster offering the most in-depth look at the early universe ever seen—taking a break from political pressures to bask in the splendor of the cosmos.
On the eve of a wider release of photographs and spectrographic data that NASA planned to present on Tuesday at the Goddard Space Flight Center in suburban Maryland, the White House provided a sneak preview of Webb’s first high-resolution, full-color image.
The $9 billion Webb observatory was created to see through the cosmos to the beginning of the known universe, ushering in a breakthrough age of astronomical discovery. It is the largest and most potent space scientific telescope ever deployed.
The 4.6 billion-year-old galaxy cluster known as SMACS 0723 was visible in the image presented by Vice President Biden and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. Its combined mass works as a “gravitational lens,” distorting space to vastly magnify the light from more distant galaxies behind it.
According to Nelson, at least one of the older, fainter specks of light visible in the photo’s “background”—a composite of images of various wavelengths of light—dates back more than 13 billion years. It is therefore only 800 million years younger than the Big Bang, the alleged flashpoint that began the known universe’s expansion some 13.8 billion years ago.
Prior to the image’s release, Biden remarked, “It’s a new window into the history of our cosmos. “And now we’ll catch a glimpse of the first light to pass through that opening: light coming from other planets that are orbiting stars that are far further distant from the sun. I find it remarkable.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the head of the United States National Space Council, accompanied him in the Old Executive Office Building in the White House complex.
The space agency published a list of the five celestial objects it has selected for Webb’s spectacular debut on Friday. These include SMACS 0723, a slice of the far universe that resembles a bejeweled gemstone and, in the words of NASA, provides “the most comprehensive depiction of the early universe to date.” Additionally, it is the clearest and deepest infrared image ever captured of the far reaches of the cosmos.
The thousands of galaxies were gathered in a small area of space, about the size of a sand particle stretched out at arm’s length, Nelson said.
Northrop Grumman Corp., a major player in the aerospace industry, has a contract to build Webb. On Christmas Day 2021, the spacecraft was launched from French Guiana, which is located on the northeastern coast of South America, for NASA as well as its European and Canadian counterparts.
After six months of remotely unfolding Webb’s many parts, aligning its mirrors, and calibrating equipment, the much anticipated release of its first imagery will take place.
With Webb now fully operational and fine-tuned, researchers will start a series of missions that have been carefully chosen to investigate the development of galaxies, the life cycles of stars, the atmospheres of far-off exoplanets, and the moons of our outer solar system.
