The James Webb Space Telescope beamed back its first full-colour science image back to Earth and was presented by US president Joe Biden today.
The image is the ‘deepest and highest-resolution look at the universe yet’ according to NASA and shows a region of space called SMACS 0723, containing thousands of galaxies, including the ‘faintest objects ever to be observed’ in the infrared spectrum.
The predecessor of James Webb, the Hubble Space Telescope, observed visible wavelengths mainly so objects that appear so red that they were below the spectrum were virtually invisible to Hubble.
These images are now being spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope, owing to its infrared capabilities.
James Webb Space Telescope was launched from French Guiana at the end of 2021 and arrived in its final orbit around the sun in early 2022 and was earmarked as a milestone for future space exploration.
Now, the first usable high-quality images are being sent back to Earth.