the space telescope james webblocated 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, has completed the alignment phase of its scientific instruments, which are already operational, announced the POT.
Its four powerful instruments, three image processors and a spectrometer, were successfully aligned with the main mirror (6.5 meters in diameter), whose deployment ended in early January, two weeks after the launch of the James Webb Telescope (JWST). ).
Each instrument reached its "operational temperature" and is ready to be used, NASA explained in a statement.
While waiting for the first scientific observations to arrive (scheduled for the summer), it was confirmed that the instruments are capable of "capture sharp, well-oriented images" such as, for example, the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy, a satellite of the Milky Way, which was taken by the Mirim instrument.
"This first image is magnificent, because we already have the quality we were looking for"Pierre-Olivier Lagage, the scientific head of Mirim at the French scientific research body CEA, wrote on Twitter.
"Everything is going perfectly and (…) I am sure that with the JWST we will advance science by leaps and bounds"he added.
"These test images show what can be achieved between people from different countries and continents when there is a courageous scientific vision to explore the universe"said Lee Feinberg, commanding the JWST telescope components on NASA’s Goddard Space Flight.
The James Webb telescope, which cost $10 billionconcentrates the hope of astronomers from all over the world, since it will allow us to observe the first galaxies, formed about 200 million years after the Big Bang.