The James Webb Space Telescope Just Locked Onto Its First Star

The James Webb Space Telescope just hit another important milestone.

The Canadian Space Agency noted in a press release that the observatory's Fine Guidance Sensor has been used to lock on to its first star.

NASA said in a post that the FGS allows it to point precisely so that it can obtain high-quality images.

During the tests that determined the FGS was able to point correctly, the team confirmed that the instrument will be used to align the telescope.

Mirror Image

The CSA said that the FGS will be used in the coming weeks to help align the telescope's 18 hexagons. We will get more precise photos once the mirrors are aligned, like the one of HD 84406, the star whose light the telescope shined on last week and captured in a mosaic-like image.

It's not clear if the telescope's new guide star is the same as the one in the first stunning photos. After months of delays, the project has been doing an amazing job since its Christmas Day launch.

CSA said the final photos would be the sum of the 18 mirror segments being stacked together and the rest of the telescope's optical elements.

Friends.

This is the first image taken by #JWST.

(Specifically, this is a mosaic of 18 images *of the same star*, HD 84406—which will now be used to align the 18 segments of the primary mirror to ultimately produce a single image of that star.)

Credit: NASA pic.twitter.com/aPjZ4UkW8C

— Paul Byrne (@ThePlanetaryGuy) February 11, 2022

The Fine Guidance Sensor is guiding! NASA

Awesome photo shows a telescope in a home.

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