FLORIDA – James Webb Space Telescope reveal hundreds galaxy The farthest sparkling during testing of one of its instruments is Wednesday 6 July 2022. The James Webb Telescope is completing commissioning and the research team will reveal its first truly scientific image on Wednesday 12 July 2022.
This image, released by NASA, was captured by the James Webb Space Telescope’s Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) over an eight-day period in May. There were approximately 72 photos taken during the 32 hours of exposure time.
The special FGS, built by the Canadian Space Agency, is not a science instrument, but keeps the observatory pointed correctly at its target. Engineering images obtained during the test reveal hundreds of distant galaxies in the deepest-ever glimpse into the universe.
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According to NASA, FGS took false color images during a “roll” test and Webb’s near-infrared camera focused on the star, dubbed HD147980, the telescope rolling from side to side like an airplane. During the test, FGS continued to point the telescope at its target.
The resulting image, a by-product of this support work, reveals the cosmos on a color scale from white to red. Cosmos with whiter hues represent objects that emit the brightest infrared light and redder colors represent objects that are dimmer.
“The faintest blob in this image is exactly the kind of fainter galaxy Webb will study in his first year of science operations,” said Jane Rigby, Webb operations scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. 7/7/2022).
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Several stars appear in the image, marked with diffraction spikes that make them appear like plus signs. The rest are galaxies. The image is imperfect, as it exhibits signs of a so-called dithering effect, which leaves black dots at the center of the star being imaged. Dithering occurs when the telescope adjusts its position slightly between exposures, resulting in saturation of its detector.
The main purpose of FGS is not to take scientific images, and most of its photos will be discarded soon after acquisition. The task of this instrument is to enable accurate measurements by other instruments by helping the telescope to precisely point to the stars and galaxies that scientists are interested in.
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