The expansion of the universe stretches the light through space. This is the reason why many of the most distant objects are visible. We can't see the ancient light with our eyes, but we can see some of the first galaxies formed by it.

Chart shows the electromagnetic spectrum range that humans can see, and the larger infrared portion that the JWST can detect.
Credit: Jen Christiansen

Integrated Science Instrument Module

Four science instruments that collect data are included in the core.

Side view of JWST shows the position of the instrument module, behind the primary mirror.
Credit: Jen Christiansen

Six Data Collection Components . . .

The interferometer uses data from multiple telescopes to achieve higher resolution than a single lens. Two stars on the sky are revealed by the technique.

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A grid of 248,000 small doors can be opened or closed to measure the light's spread into its wavelength.

The intensity of individual wavelength is revealed by gratings or prisms.

Two of the cameras capture light in the near-IR wavelength range, while the third works in the mid-IR wavelength range.

The light varies across the field of view with the help of the integrated field unit.

Glare from bright stars can make it difficult to see planets and debris disks around those stars. The weak signals are allowed to pass through the opaque circles of coronagraphs.

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Six icons, representing aperture masking, micro shutter array, spectrographs, cameras, integral field unit, and coronagraphs.
Credit: Jen Christiansen

. . . Distributed across Four Instruments

The FGS is a guide camera that points the telescope in the right direction. It is packaged with the NIRISS which has a camera and a spectrograph.

Schematic of FGS and NIRISS. Components include aperture masking, spectrographs and cameras. Detects infrared up to 5 microns.
Credit: Jen Christiansen (graphic); NASA; ESA; STScI; Andi James and J. Olmsted, STScI (references)

The NIR Spec has a micro shutter array that can capture 100 spectrums at the same time. It is the first space instrument that can do so many things at one time.

Schematic of NIRSpec. Components include micro shutter array, spectrograph and integral field unit. Detects up to 5 microns.
Credit: Jen Christiansen (graphic); NASA; ESA; STScI; Andi James and J. Olmsted, STScI (references)

A key instrument for studying exoplanets whose light would be drowned out by their nearby star's glare is the Near-Infrared Camera. It will be able to take high-resolution images in the near-IR.

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Schematic of NIRCam. Components include spectrograph, camera, and coronagraph. Detects infrared up to 5 microns.
Credit: Jen Christiansen (graphic); NASA; ESA; STScI; Andi James and J. Olmsted, STScI (references)

TheMIRI is the only instrument that can see in the mid-Infrared where cooler objects such as debris disks around stars are visible.

Schematic of MIRI. Components include spectrograph, camera, integral field unit and coronagraph. Detects 5-28 microns.
Credit: Jen Christiansen (graphic); NASA; ESA; STScI; Andi James and J. Olmsted, STScI (references)

Are the Pictures “Real”?

The photos of the Space Telescope Science Institute are real, even though scientists have to make adjustments. This is what we would see if we were there. The answer is no because our eyes don't have the ability to see in IR and the telescope is much more sensitive to light than our eyes. The telescope gives us a truer representation of what these objects look like than our eyes can. There are up to 27 filters that can be used to take pictures. Scientists first find the most useful dynamic range and scale the brightness values to get the most details. The shorter wavelength of the spectrum gets blue, and the longer wavelength gets green and red. All that is left are the normal white balancing, contrast and color adjustments that any photographer could make.

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Data from 4 infrared filters are stretched and assigned blue, green, orange or red. The composite is a full-color nebula image.
Credit: Jen Christiansen (graphic); NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI and Webb ERO Production Team (image source)

Data Details

Many of the exciting discoveries show up one wavelength at a time. There are different features of the Tarantula Nebula revealed by the NIR Spec instrument. The wavelength emitted by atomic hydrogen comes from a central star and a bubble around it. The signatures of hydrogen and hydrocarbons are in between. The data shows that a group of stars in the lower right are blowing dust and gas towards the central star.

Data from 3 infrared filters are assigned colors. Blue is assigned to 1.87 microns, green to 2.12, and red to 3.3.
Credit: Jen Christiansen (graphic); NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI and Webb ERO Production Team (image source)