Webb Space Telescope Takes First Sharp Photo Of Star

The James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) has released its first sharp image and it is a doozy — a spectacular view of a twinkling orange star that is focused with such sharpness that it pushes the limits of the laws of physics, Tom Metcalfe reported for Live Science.

Photo Insert: While the purpose of Webb’s latest image was to focus on a bright star and evaluate the alignment progress, Webb’s optics are so sensitive that galaxies and other stars can be seen in the background.

The image shows that the telescope's 18 separate mirrors are now accurately aligned and acting as one, and the photo is even better than scientists hoped it would be, NASA officials said. The Webb team released the photograph of the Milky Way star, designated 2MASS J17554042+6551277, and located roughly 2,000 light-years away, Wednesday, Mar. 18.

It was taken with a red filter to maximize the visual contrast between the star and the blackness of space, while dozens of other stars and distant galaxies can be seen in the background. BBC News said the image shows that the optical systems of the new space telescope are now working better than the scientists and engineers had hoped.

"You not only see the star and the spikes from the diffraction of the star, but you see other stars in the field that are tightly focused, just like we expect, and all sorts of other interesting structure in the background," Webb engineer Lee Feinberg told reporters.

"We've actually done very detailed analysis of the images we're getting, and so far, what we're finding is that the performance is as good [as], if not better than, our most optimistic prediction."

The image is the result of the "fine phasing" stage of the mirror alignments, in which every optical parameter is checked to verify that the telescope can successfully gather light from distant objects, NASA said in the statement.

Feinberg has led the project to align the space telescope's 18 hexagonal beryllium mirrors so they function as one nearly hexagonal mirror with a diameter of 21.3 feet (6.5 meters).

The design allowed the system of mirrors to be folded and fit inside a rocket fairing at launch — unlike Webb's predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, which has just one main mirror that's about 7.8 feet (2.4 m) across.

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