Following a presidential sneak peek of a galaxy-studded image from deep in the cosmos, NASA was due on Tuesday to unveil more of its initial showcase from the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful orbital observatory ever launched.
The first batch of full-color, high-resolution pictures, which took weeks to render from raw telescope data, were selected by NASA to provide compelling early images from Webb's major areas of inquiry and a preview of science missions ahead.
With Webb now finely tuned and fully focused, astronomers will embark on a competitively selected list of science projects exploring the evolution of galaxies, the life cycles of stars, the atmospheres of distant exoplanets and the moons of our outer solar system. The debut collection includes another galaxy cluster known as Stephan's Quintet, which was first discovered in 1877 and encompasses several galaxies described by NASA as "locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters."
The much larger light-collecting surface of Webb's primary mirror - an array of 18 hexagonal segments of gold-coated beryllium metal - enables it to observe objects at greater distances, thus further back in time, than Hubble or any other telescope. At least one of the faint, older specks of light appearing in the "background" of the photo - a composite of images of different wavelengths of light - dates back more than 13 billion years, NASA chief Bill Nelson said.
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