NASA photo: James Webb Space Telescope captures STUNNING new images

tech.hindustantimes.com:

NASA James Webb Space Telescope has captured some stunning new photos that are sharper than ever before. The images were captured as part of the alignment process of the new NASA James Webb Telescope.

The James Webb Telescope is now referred to as NASA’s flying observatory far out in space orbiting the Sun. Now, the latest NASA photo taken by James Webb Space Telescope shows how technologically advanced this new telescope is. One of the captured photos was of the neighbouring satellite galaxy, called the Large Magellanic Cloud. The images were captured using James Webb Telescope’s MIRI instrument, which specializes in mid-infrared imaging. The Large Magellanic Cloud was seen in a dense starfield, also captured earlier by the now-retired Spitzer Telescope. However, the James Webb Telescope is vastly advanced with its large primary mirror with 18 mirror segments, which allow an unprecedented level of detail in captured images.

NASA said "Here, you can see the emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or molecules of carbon and hydrogen that play an important role in the thermal balance and chemistry of interstellar gas."

The James Webb Space Telescope is a $10 billion project which is meant to be the successor to the aging Hubble Space Telescope. It is now the world’s most powerful observatory and is the first telescope in space to have segmented primary mirror design. Its 21 feet wide primary mirror is made up of 18 hexagonal, beryllium mirror segments.

Although the James Webb Space Telescope is still in alignment phase, it has already started capturing breathtaking images in stunning detail of distant objects in space.