DECRYPTION – By flushing out distant objects, formed just a few hundred million years after the big bang, the new observatory sees farther than the Hubble telescope.
“Just seeing this first picture of the deep field, we realize that there will be a before and an after Webb”, enthuses Johan Richard, astronomer at the Center for Astrophysical Research in Lyon. “The image is fantastic, extremely rich, with a level of detail such that it will take weeks of in-depth analysis to extract all possible information from it.” The shot in question may not be the most artistic that the most powerful astronomical observatory ever launched into space will be able to achieve, but it is the infrared image. “the deepest ever taken from our Universe” to use the words of Bill Nelson, head of the American space agency.
The new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is by far the largest instrument ever sent into space, and it is partly thanks to its 6.50 m main mirror that it can flush out these very distant objects, formed only a few hundred million years after the big bang. But…
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