It includes a massive cluster of galaxies about 4 billion light-years away that astronomers use as a kind of cosmic telescope.
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It is a patch of sky visible from the Southern Hemisphere on Earth and often visited by Hubble and other telescopes in search of the deep past. The image goes by the name of SMACS 0723. She added, “It is beyond my wildest imagination to be alive when we get to see out to the edge of black holes, and the edge of the universe.” Although Monday’s snapshot might not have reached that far, it proved the principle of the technique and hinted at what more is to come from the telescope’s scientific instruments, which astronomers have waited decades to bring online.Īs the telescope “gathers more data in the coming years, we will see out to the edge of the Universe like never before,” said Priyamvada Natarajan, of Yale University, an expert on black holes and primeval galaxies, in an email from India, One of the most ambitious of the Webb telescope’s missions is to study some of the first stars and galaxies that lit up the universe soon after the Big Bang 14 billion years ago. When he added that the technology could determine whether other planets were habitable, Biden responded with a “Whoa.”Īs the ceremony ended and the reporting pool was escorted from the room, Biden was heard to say, “I wonder what the press are like in those other places.” “We are going to be able to answer questions that we don’t even know what the questions are yet,” he said.
Nelson, the NASA chief, touted the telescope’s scientific potential at the White House event. The screen gave way to the cosmic image, which was speckled with tiny dots of galaxies and drew applause from the far end of the room. Each sat at small, widely spaced desks in front of a large screen where other NASA officials appeared. In a setting in the White House’s South Auditorium that evoked scenes from the bridge of a starship on “Star Trek,” Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were joined by Alondra Nelson, the acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Bill Nelson, the former Florida senator appointed NASA administrator by Biden and Jane Rigby, an operations project scientist for the Webb telescope. “We can go places no one has ever gone before.”īiden’s announcement served as a teaser for the telescope’s big cosmic slideshow scheduled for Tuesday night (IST) when scientists reveal what the Webb has been looking at for the past six months.įor Biden, the reveal of the images was also a chance to engage directly with an event that will almost certainly stir wonder and pride among Americans - at a time when his approval ratings have plummeted as voters recoil at high food and gasoline prices and Democrats question his ability to fight for gun control and abortion rights. “We can see possibilities no one has ever seen before,” Biden said. The president, who apologised for beginning the event tardily, praised NASA for its work that enabled the telescope and the imagery it will produce. “This is the oldest documented light in the history of the universe from 13 billion - let me say that again, 13 billion - years ago,” Biden said.
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