It is one of a handful of inaugural full-colour images of the Universe that NASA plans to release this week.

NASA has unveiled the first full-colour image taken by the powerful James Webb Space Telescope. It is a critical moment for the deep-space observatory as it also marks the beginning of its first year of transformational science. Interestingly, the image is incredibly detailed and shows a deep field of some of the most distant galaxies that can be seen from Earth. It also demonstrates the mighty power of the telescope and makes people hope for more awe-inspiring images of the Universe in the future.

The first full-colour image from NASA’s James Webb telescope

The picture released is among the first few inaugurals full-colour images that NASA plans to release this week. It will be done to celebrate the start of science operations for the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST. NASA administrator Bill Nelson and US President Joe Biden unveiled the first picture this afternoon during a special last-minute briefing that was organized at the White House.

During the briefing, Nelson said, “Mr. President, if you held a grain of sand on the tip of your finger at arm’s length, that is the part of the Universe that you’re seeing. Just one little speck of the Universe.”

 

 

The images have proved that James Webb Space Telescope will revolutionize astrophysics. One reason for it could be that it has the largest mirror ever sent into space. James Webb Space Telescope also lets us look deep into the Universe’s past by gathering light from some of the stars and galaxies that formed right after the Big Bang.

 

The image taken from James Webb Space Telescope shows a region of the sky known as SMACS 0723. It is filled with massive galaxy clusters 4.6 billion light-years away. They actually bend space and time around themselves and reveal an extra deep look into the cosmos.

 

Biden said, “When this image is shared with the world [it] will be a historic moment for science and technology, for astronomy and space exploration, for America and all of humanity.”

 

The release of the James Webb Space Telescope’s photo is the culmination of a journey that’s been two and a half decades in the making for NASA as well as the entire astronomy community. The telescope was formally recommended by the Space Telescope Science Institute in 1996. The James Webb Space Telescope is meant to see deeper into the cosmos and more detail than ever before.

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