A stunning display of the galaxy cluster SMACS-0723 was revealed last night, thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope. A century ago, scientists thought there was only one galaxy, but this image shows thousands, all found in a tiny speck of sky comparable in size to a single grain of sand. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that images like this one, dubbed "Webb's First Deep Field," allow us to see the universe as it appeared in the past.

It wasn't that long before the person was ready. More than three decades after it was conceived and six months after it was launched, the first full-color images of the universe are being delivered. Scientists released four more amazing images today, the first in a series, after the shot was revealed by President Biden.

Deepest Infrared Image of Universe Yet From James Webb Space Telescope
Webb’s first-ever image is a stunner. The deepest, sharpest infrared image ever captured of the distant universe reveals a tableau teeming with thousands of galaxies in the cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago. Webb’s First Deep Field, as it’s called, is a composite of images at different wavelengths compiled from the telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera in just 12.5 hours. SMACS 0723’s combined mass boosts Webb’s power, acting as a gravitational lens that magnifies the far more distant galaxies behind it. These galaxies, which appear faint and red in the image, had never been seen before, and already scientists are studying their composition as Webb reveals concentrations of elements like oxygen, hydrogen and neon within them. Webb not only provides incredibly distant views, it does so with such clarity that it allows scientists to study the ages, histories and makeup of the earliest galaxies while they follow our universe’s story back in time towards the Big Bang. NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

The initial images show a region of new star birth with at least a dozen massive stars 50 to 100 times the size of our own Sun and a cloud of gas surrounding a star in its death throes. The planet WASP-96b, a gassy giant some 1, 150 light-years from Earth, was captured by the astronomer.

Some answers will be provided by the telescope. I am so excited that we got a chance to do it.

Carina Nebula
The Carina Nebula is a turbulent region of star birth, and death, approximately 7,600 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina. Webb’s infrared capabilities allow it to peer through clouds to reveal hundreds of new stars in breathtaking detail. “We have these gigantic, hot young stars up here at the top, and the radiation and stellar winds from these stars is sort of pushing down and running into all of this gas and dust,” says Astrophysicist Amber Straughn of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, describing the image called Cosmic Cliffs. “And of course we know that gas and dust is great raw material for newborn stars and baby planets.” Straughn explains that every dot of light in the image is an individual star, not unlike our Sun, and many likely have orbiting planets. “It just reminds me that our Sun, and our planets, and ultimately us, were formed out of the same kind of stuff that we see here.” NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

Humans have never been able to see deeper into space than we can with the $10 billion telescope. It is possible to observe light from the universe's very first stars and galaxies that formed just a few hundred million years after the Big bang.

We will be able to explore deeper into space with the help of the telescope. It will be possible to see where planetary systems and stars are born with the help of a telescope. It's possible to peer through the dust to see the birth of stars and even see the black hole at the center of our own universe. It will be possible to see exoplanets beyond our solar system, whose atmosphere is shrouded by clouds. Mercedes Lopez-Morales will be able to study their composition and atmosphere to see if they are similar to Earth.

Lopez-Morales says that looking at the universe with a different set of glasses will allow us to see new details. We'll see something new everywhere.

WASP-96 b
Webb’s exploration of exoplanets is off to an incredible start with this image showing the presence of atmospheric water vapor on WASP-96 b, a hot, gassy planet some 1,150 light-years from Earth. Countless planets exist outside our solar system and Webb will enable scientists to analyze them like never before. By peering through the clouds that block such worlds, Webb can reveal which rocky planets might have atmospheres, and thus might harbor life, while also studying the composition of all types of exoplanet atmospheres. “What you’re seeing here is the chemical fingerprint, the telltale signature, of water vapor in the atmosphere of this exoplanet,” says NASA astrophysicist Knicole Colon, adding that the evidence adds up to the presence of clouds and hazes on WASP-96 b. NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

The most powerful and complex scientific observatory ever built was the Hubble telescope, which is still operating 30 years later. The 25-year project, a joint effort of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space agency, faced numerous difficulties, including costs that ballooned from initial estimates of just $1 billion to $3.5 billion, a 2011 NASA budget cut, and delay that left some wondering whether it was worth it

It is a testament to scientific collaboration on a massive scale that it is now in a space station. The culmination of work by some 1,200 scientists, technicians and engineers from 14 countries is the awe-inspiring images Webb captures of our Universe.

It shows what humans can do when we get together. We can do things like this if we put our mind to it and persist for a long time.

Southern Ring Nebula
In the Southern Ring Nebula, two Webb cameras captured images of star death—and a glimpse at the future that awaits our own Solar System. “This is a planetary nebula, it’s caused by a dying star that has expelled a large fraction of its mass in successive waves,” explains Karl Gordon, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute. The image actually reveals two stars locked in orbit in the center of a cloud of elements, which are being expelled into space by the fainter star and stirred by the movement of the pair's orbit. The image’s orange foamy features are molecular hydrogen, being formed in the cloud expansion. The inner blue haze, is a concentration of hot ionized gas being superheated by the leftover core of the star. NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

The first humans on the moon were landed by the Apollo missions, which were overseen by NASA Administrator James Webb. When an Ariane 5 rocket blasted off from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, the telescope bearing his name was launched. In space it carefully unfolded a tennis court-sized protective sun shield and a honeycomb of 18 hexagonal, gold-lined mirrors more than 21 feet across. The mirrors allowed the instrument to see more of the space than any other instrument when it was in the air.

The telescope uses a wavelength just beyond what we can see and traces thermal radiation. Our atmosphere blocks the light that comes from space. The telescope needs to be kept very cold so that it won't get hot. It is achieved by its location in deep, cold space and by the sun shield that protects it.

Stephan's Quintet
“We’re looking at five galaxies,” says ESA astronomer Giovanna Giardino, noting that a typical galaxy may contain 100 billion stars. Webb’s image of Stephan’s Quintet, 290 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus, shows beautifully chaotic processes at work. Four of those galaxies, she adds, “are locked in a sort of cosmic dance driven by gravitational force.” Two galaxies are in the process of merging. The image shows how Webb can reveal fundamental cosmic phenomena that have been largely out of our sight. “It shows the type of interactions that drive the evolution of galaxies,” Giardino notes, a process by which we might also help trace the history of our universe since the first galaxies began to form. And while Webb can’t actually show us an active black hole, this image allows scientists to study the composition of the surrounding gasses that reveal one’s presence here. “We can see the material swirling around,” she says, “and being swallowed by this sort of cosmic monster.” NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

It is possible that the telescope can operate for 20 years or more. It has been designed to be self-sufficient because it is so far away from the Moon.

A to-do list like that is amazing. Scientists are prepared to explore the early universe, chart how galaxies form and evolve over time, observe the lifecycles of stars, and ponder into the mysteries of exoplanets. The telescope's greatest discoveries may not be found in these areas.

Lopez-Morales says it's very likely that we will discover things that we can't explain. I am very excited to see what the observations will reveal, because that is how breakthrough in human knowledge happens.

There are some recommended videos.

The first Chimp in space.

NASA was going to send a Chimpanzees into space to test the effects of space on a living creature.

There is a space shuttle launch.

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