Enlarge image
The first image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows its 18 mirrors and a blurry star HD 84406 in the constellation Ursa Major behind it
Photo: - / AFP
The new James Webb space telescope has sent the first image back to earth from its location in deep space.
As NASA announced on Friday, the telescope took a photo of the star HD 84406 in the Ursa Major constellation.
A black background can be seen in the image, in front of which are 18 blurred points of light - they all show one and the same star reflected by the 18 segments of the main mirror.
So the first photo of the telescope is a kind of selfie, as Nasa explains on Twitter:
According to NASA, the image should help to adjust the alignment of the mirror.
"The entire Webb team is thrilled with how well the first steps of image acquisition and telescope alignment are going," said University of Arizona Astronomy Professor Marcia Rieke, who was involved in the project.
The telescope is expected to be ready for use in June.
Until then, according to NASA, the instruments still have to be cooled down and calibrated and the mirrors have to be precisely adjusted.
The James Webb Telescope is designed to explore the early days of the universe 13 billion years ago, just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
Astronomers hope to draw conclusions about the formation of the first stars and galaxies.
The most powerful telescope to date far exceeds its predecessor Hubble in size and complexity.
It looks further into space than Hubble and therefore further back into the past.
Webb focuses on infrared radiation.
An Ariane 5 rocket had launched the ten billion euro Webb telescope on Christmas Day from the spaceport in Kourou in French Guiana.
Because it was too big for the rocket, it had to be folded before launch.
The process of unfurling and anchoring these wings alone took two weeks.
The telescope is now in its final position 1.6 million kilometers from Earth.
Named after a former director of the US Space Agency, the telescope was jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency ESA and the Canadian Space Agency CSA.
The Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, the University of Cologne and several German companies also took part.
ok/AFP