The James Webb Space Telescope’s First Image Shows a Beautiful Expanse of Galaxies

by Joel Hruska

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The first official image from the James Webb Telescope was released today. It’s the deepest infrared view of the universe that we’ve ever taken, and yet according to NASA, the area depicted in the shot is equivalent to the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by a person on Earth. We’ve excerpted part of the image for our feature above, but you can view the uncropped version below.

The James Webb Space Telescope’s first released image. Follow the ray pointing northeast of the brightest central galaxy to see the same stellar formation referenced below.

This is SMACS 0723, a galaxy cluster. After digging around a bit online, I’ve found what appears to be a photo of the same cluster shot with the Hubble Space Telescope. Look just to the right and slightly up from the central bright spot and you’ll see a distinctive-looking pair of galaxies with a bit of smeared orange line between them. The same formation appears in both images.

Second bright galaxy to the right (of center), and straight on ’til morning. Sourced from here.