NASA James Webb Space Telescope Peeks 4.6 Billion Years into the Past with its First Public Image

US President Joe Biden on Monday released the first public image from the NASA James Webb Space Telescope. The infrared image was captured by the telescope’s NIRCAM (near-infrared camera); and shows in detail the SMACS 0723 galaxy cluster as it appeared 4.6 billion years in the past. In other words, the light received by the telescope started its journey from some 4.6 billion light years away. The image shows thousands of galaxies of various types, including galactic collisions. There is some amount of refraction in the image, probably from from gravitational lensing. The bright objects in the image are local stars. The JWST team may release more images from the telescope’s various other instruments, in the coming days. Find higher resolution versions of the image, along with a more detailed description, in the source link below.