James Webb Space Telescope’s latest selfie marks a milestone for the space observatory

Image: NASA

The James Webb Space Telescope has 18 mirrors, which are now aligned to act as one massive mirror. The new images released by NASA today include a selfies and progress along with updated images of a single star.

The telescope's combined 18 mirrors have been focused on the isolated star HD 84406, which the researchers are using as a target. There were 18 images of the star that were captured individually on each mirror segment. The latest image of HD 84406 shows what it looks like when all 18 mirrors work together. They were able to take a picture of the star and the distant galaxies behind it.

Image: NASA and Image: NASA

The 18 mirrors on the JWST collect light from the same star. The engineering team back on earth use a specialized lens to make sure the mirrors are working properly. Now that the 18 mirrors are aligned, they can work together as one mirror to take pictures of distant stars, galaxies, and even baby photos of the Universe.

Image: NASA

Thomas Zurbuchan, associate administrator of NASA, said that the team set out to build the most powerful telescope that anyone has ever put in space and came up with an audacious optical design to meet demanding science goals.

Over the next six weeks, NASA will continue to prepare the JWST for its science work. The next steps will include aligning instruments such as the near-IR and mid-IR instruments. The final checks will be conducted and any last minute adjustments will be made.

The telescope is expected to be available for scientific observation preparations by early May and the lengthy alignment process is on track. The telescope's first set of images and scientific data will be released in the summer.