NASA Releases First Full-Color Image From James Webb Telescope

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled one of the first images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope on Monday, hailed as the “deepest” and sharpest infrared image of the universe ever produced.

The image covers a “patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground” and shows thousands of galaxies “in a tiny sliver of vast universe,” according to NASA.

BIDEN TO UNVEIL JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE’S FIRST PHOTO AT WHITE HOUSE

“Today represents an exciting new chapter in the exploration of our universe. From the beginning of history, humans have looked up to the night sky with wonder, and thanks to the dedication of people who have been working for decades in engineering and on scientific marvels, we can look to the sky with new understanding,” Harris said during a NASA briefing at the White House. “The James Webb Space Telescope allows us to see deeper into space than ever before, and in stunning clarity. It will enhance what we know about the origins of our universe, our solar system, and possibly life itself.”

The image unveiled on Monday is of “galaxy cluster SMACS 0723” and is the first of five full-color images from the telescope that will be released by NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency. The rest will be disclosed to the public on Tuesday.

The telescope embodies how “America leads the world, not by the example of our power, but the power of our example,” Biden said.

“These images are going to remind the world that America can do big things and to remind the American people, especially our children, that there’s nothing beyond our capacity,” Biden said.

Using infrared light, the telescope is able to see through cosmic dust, allowing scientists to better see the first galaxies and stars to form in the universe. The telescope, developed by NASA and Northrop Grumman, is the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built, costing nearly $10 billion dollars and taking over 20 years to assemble. It was launched into space in December 2021 after a series of delays.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the image unveiled on Monday was the first of many from a tool that will enable scientists to look at the chemical composition of planets to ultimately determine if they are “habitable.”

“This is just the first image. They’re going back about 13.5 billion years. And since we know the universe is 13.8 billion years old, we’re going back almost to the beginning,” Nelson said.

Earlier this year, test images from the telescope, including its first “selfie” from space, were released while it was still in its commissioning phase, according to CNN.

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NASA released a list of five cosmic targets for the telescope’s first images last Friday, including the Carina Nebula, one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky, located approximately 7,600 light-years away from Earth; the WASP-96b exoplanet, located 1,150 light-years from Earth; the Southern Ring Nebula, an expanding cloud of gas surrounding a dying star approximately 2,000 light-years away; Stephan’s Quintet, the first compact galaxy group ever discovered in 1877, located about 290 million light-years away; and SMACS 0723.