The American space station has achieved a major milestone in the preparation of the new James Webb Space Telescope.
Engineers say they have now been able to fully focus the $ 10bn observatory on a test star. The sharp performance of the pin is much better than expected, they added.
Up to this point, all Webb mirrors had to be aligned with small sections of human hair.
But the organization warns that much work remains to be done before the telescope can be announced.
Lee Feinberg, a NASA engineer who led Webb's material development, described the release of the first well-focused image as amazing.
Not only do you see the star and the spikes in the constellation, but you see some stars in the field that are very focused, as we expect, and all sorts of other interesting species in the background, "he told reporters. good if not better than our best predictions. "
• James Webb completes the epic post sequence
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Webb, billed as a fan of the famous Hubble Space Telescope, was launched on December 25 with a rocket Ariane-5 from French Guiana.
Its main objectives are to take pictures of the first stars to shine in the Sky and to explore distant planets to see if they can be inhabited.
To provide Webb with the necessary solution and sensitivity to accomplish this task, it is equipped with a main screen 6.5 m wide.
But this bright spot, composed of 18 segments, is so large that it has to be folded to fit inside Ariane's nose.
The original functions from the launch are therefore governed by the need to disassemble the mirror and other visual aids and make them all work in harmony.
Each of the 18 segments has a shape and a curve that is adjusted to small motors, enabling it to behave as if it were a single, monolithic space.
"We have now achieved the so-called 'limited proportional diffraction' of telescopes: Images are well integrated as the laws of physics allow," said Marshall Perrinn, who works for Webb at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.
Take a look at the background features of the image. Oval shapes are large galaxies that may be billions of light years away.
It is important to remember that this is a test image designed for engineering purposes. The glorious splendor of the universe, such as the one Hubble has ruined for the past 30 years, will come later in the summer when science begins to work.
"The engineering images we see today are as sharp and clear as Hubble's photographs, but they are at the height of a wave of light that is completely invisible to Hubble," said Jane Rigby of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The coordination function is done using a special tool on the Webb - its main camera system known as the NIRCam. Developers will now have to check this setup to apply to three other Webb package packages. This may require minor changes, or even compromises, with configuration as it is today, but any adjustments are not expected to be significant.
So this makes the invisible Universe reach a very sharp focus
The James Webb Space Telescope is a joint effort of US, European and Canadian space agency
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