The first official photograph of the Webb Space Telescope: the highest resolution image of a deep space field

Webb's field of view in this photograph reveals thousands of galaxies in a tiny sliver of a vast universe including hollow structures in extremely distant galaxies * The image was taken by several instruments over a cumulative time of 12.5 hours, for Hubble it would have taken weeks. More photos - in the afternoon

The galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 - the first scientific photograph by the James Webb Space Telescope. This cluster acts as a gravitational lens and increases the light of distant galaxies, including those from the early universe. Photo: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
The galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 – the first scientific photograph of the James Webb Space Telescope. This cluster acts as a gravitational lens and increases the light of distant galaxies, including those from the early universe. Photo: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI. The image was taken in near infrared. The redder an object is, the further away it is

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe yet. This image of the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, now also known as the "First Webb Deep Field," emerges It overflows with details. Among other things, with the help of the cosmic gravitational lens, galaxies 13 billion light-years away are visible, which means that we see them as they were less visible. From a billion years after the big bang.

Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever seen in infrared – appeared for the first time in Webb's photo. This slice of the vast universe covers a patch of sky the size of a fraction of a grain of sand.

This photo taken by me The near infrared camera (NIRCam) of Webb, is a composite photograph made of images taken at different wavelengths with a total exposure of 12.5 hours - and reached depths in infrared wavelengths beyond Hubble's observational ability to observe such deep fields, and even then, it took him many weeks.

The image shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago. The combined mass of this galaxy cluster works as a gravitational lens, and magnifies much more distant galaxies behind it. Webb's NIRCam brought these distant galaxies into sharp focus – some with tiny, faint structures never seen before, including star clusters and diffuse features. Researchers will soon begin to learn more about the masses, ages, histories and compositions of galaxies as Webb searches for the earliest galaxies in the universe.

As mentioned, this is the first planned photograph taken by the Webb Space Telescope. Earlier, NASA released a black and white image which happened to be achieved by means of a device that helps to aim the telescope.

This image is among the first full color images of the telescope. The first images will be revealed later today (17:30 Israel time) on NASA TV and will be broadcast live in this article.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA and STScI

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  1. The tiny red dot in the upper left corner of the image is a 13.1 billion year old galaxy. This is so far the earliest light we can see. Webb has the possibility (theoretically) to see back a few hundred million years.

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