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President Joe Biden has released one of Webb's first images, and it's the deepest view of the universe ever captured.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail.

Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – have appeared in Webb’s view for the first time. This slice of the vast universe covers a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground.

This deep field, taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), is a composite made from images at different wavelengths, totaling 12.5 hours – achieving depths at infrared wavelengths beyond the Hubble Space Telescope’s deepest fields, which took weeks.

The image shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago. The combined mass of this galaxy cluster acts as a gravitational lens, magnifying much more distant galaxies behind it. Webb’s NIRCam has brought those distant galaxies into sharp focus – they have tiny, faint structures that have never been seen before, including star clusters and diffuse features. Researchers will soon begin to learn more about the galaxies’ masses, ages, histories, and compositions, as Webb seeks the earliest galaxies in the universe.

This image is among the telescope’s first-full color images. The full suite will be released Tuesday, July 12, beginning at 10:30 a.m. EDT, during a live NASA TV broadcast.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

James Webb Space Telescope

Space rocket

The James Webb Space Telescope is a space telescope designed primarily to conduct infrared astronomy. As the most powerful telescope ever launched into space, its greatly improved infrared resolution and sensitivity will allow it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble Space Telescope.

Launch date: 25 December 2021
Cost: 1,000 crores USD (2016)
Rocket: Ariane 5 ECA (VA256)
Operator: STScI (NASA)
Dimensions: 20.197 m × 14.162 m (66.26 ft × 46.46 ft), sunshield
Bandwidth: S-band up: 16 kbit/s; S-band down: 40 kbit/s; Ka-band down: up to 28 Mbit/s
Manufacturers: Northrop Grumman, Ball Aerospace & Technologies

How far away is the James Webb telescope?

After unfolding into its final form in space and successfully reaching its destination 1 million miles from Earth, the telescope recently completed its months-long process of preparing for science operations. The size of a tennis court and three stories high, the Webb is the largest telescope ever sent into space.

How powerful is James Webb telescope?

According to NASA, the Webb telescope is so sensitive to infrared light, it would be able to detect even the slight heat of a bumblebee at the distance of the moon. Technically, it could also see details as small as a U.S. penny at a distance of about 25 miles.