The James Webb Space Telescope, one of the largest projects for the entire scientific community in recent years, has finally taken the first image of a star. And if you go into details, the NASA space agency shared not one, but a whole mosaic of photographs of the star, taken using 18 segments of the main mirror at once. And although at first glance it looks like a random set of blurry points, but in reality this is exactly what the mission team originally expected.
The images will help scientists complete the rather lengthy mirror alignment process using the telescope’s near-infrared camera, also known as NIRCam. And yes, at the moment the first stage is almost completed. But be that as it may, if you go back directly to the images themselves, then the visualization of the star within the image was achieved as a result of 25 hours of work, during which the James Webb Space Telescope was pointed at 156 different positions, as a result of which 1,560 images were obtained. using the already mentioned NIRCam sensors. The research team created the mosaic using the signature of each mirror segment in one frame.
Visual artifacts occur when using an infrared camera at temperatures well above the cold conditions required by a telescope for scientific observations. And what we can see in the resulting images is not the whole mosaic – the full resolution image has a size of more than two gigapixels. By the way, NASA also provided a rare real-life view of the James Webb Space Telescope in action. The agency provided a “selfie” of the main mirror created by a pupil-imaging lens from NIRCam. But yes, this image is just as blurry. But even so, it provides a very valuable insight into a fully deployed mirror and helps explain the importance of alignment.
Particular attention should be paid to how exactly only one segment is brightly lit by a star? It is the only object aligned with this celestial body. So it will take some time before all segments work in harmony. But be that as it may, a start has been made, which cannot but rejoice, since scientists have been going to this moment for a long time. Moreover, the researchers also expect the first scientifically useful images from this telescope this summer. It is reasonable to assume that the upcoming images will be significantly more exciting and high quality.
