February 10 2025
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a joint venture of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), has produced an image that seems to have been lifted directly from the Star Trek universe. The image, released on February 11, shows the telescope's primary mirror, which is currently undergoing alignment and calibration.
Despite being a scientific tool, the JWST has already begun to produce stunning visuals. The recent image captures Webb's 18 hexagonal mirror segments, each with a gold coating, in a picture that is strikingly similar to the opening credits of the Star Trek: The Next Generation series.
After its launch on Christmas Day last year, the JWST is now nearly a million miles from Earth. The process of aligning its mirrors is expected to last around three months. This alignment is crucial as it will allow the telescope to capture images of the universe with unprecedented detail.
Each mirror segment can be adjusted individually, and it's this precise control that gives the Webb its incredible imaging capabilities. The telescope's mirrors are specially designed to capture infrared light, which will allow it to observe some of the most distant objects in the universe.
To test the alignment, the team used a bright star called HD 84406, which is located in the Ursa Major constellation. This star was used to produce the first 'starlight' image, which showed the 18 individual point sources of light corresponding to each of Webb's mirror segments.
The JWST is the most expensive space telescope ever built, costing around $10 billion. It is expected to revolutionize our understanding of the universe, with the potential to observe the very first galaxies that formed after the Big Bang.
