Biden Shares Spectacular Deep Space Telescope Image Ahead Of Today's Big NASA Event
For those who have been waiting on the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA gave an early preview yesterday. The image that was shared was part of an event held at the White House that included the President of the United States. While the event was broadcast live, it ended short of sharing any other photos ahead of today's scheduled reveal event. NASA also shared the first image on its Twitter feed following the broadcasted briefing with President Biden.
One of the similarities between the test image and the latest image is that brighter stars are seen with their trademark six, long, sharply defined diffraction spikes, an effect that is due to Webb's six-sided mirror segments. Dimmer stars and galaxies fill out the rest of the background.
The image shared with President Biden is of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. It includes thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared. NASA says that "this slice of the vast universe covers a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm's length by someone on the ground."
Regardless of how you view the images, it is great to finally arrive at the moment they can be shared. The journey of JWST has taken it nearly a million miles from Earth, but it has truly just begun. We look forward to many more images captured by this incredible space telescope, and all that it will reveal. Be sure to keep checking back with HotHardware, as we will continue to bring you the latest with JWST.
Top Image Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA