The first full-colour picture from the new James Webb Space Telescope has been released – and it doesn’t disappoint.
The image is said to be the deepest, most detailed infrared view of the Universe to date, containing the light from galaxies that has taken many billions of years to reach us.
US President Joe Biden was shown the image during a White House briefing.
The $10bn James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), launched on 25 December last year, is billed as the successor to the famous Hubble Space Telescope.
It will make all sorts of observations of the sky, but has two overarching goals. One is to take pictures of the very first stars to shine in the Universe more than 13.5 billion years ago; the other is to probe far-off planets to see if they might be habitable.
The image unveiled before President Biden showcases Webb’s capabilities to pursue the first of these objectives.
