Posted on 03/19/2022 2:16:56 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: 2MASS J17554042+6551277 doesn't exactly roll off the tongue but that's the name, a coordinate-based catalog designation, of the star centered in this sharp field of view. Fans of the distant universe should get used to its spiky appearance though. The diffraction pattern is created by the 18 hexagonal mirror segments of the James Webb Space Telescope. After unfolding, the segments have now been adjusted to achieve a diffraction limited alignment at infrared wavelengths while operating in concert as a single 6.5 meter diameter primary mirror. The resulting image taken by Webb's NIRcam demonstrates their precise alignment is the best physics will allow. 2MASS J17554042+6551277 is about 2,000 light-years away and well within our own galaxy. But the galaxies scattered across the background of the Webb telescope alignment evaluation image are likely billions of light-years distant, far beyond the Milky Way.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
“But the galaxies scattered across the background...”
Awesome..... I count three distinct galaxies from that photo as posted. Prolly many, many more once magnified.
Everything without diffraction spikes is a galaxy. Hundreds of them in this picture, and in very minute detail. The JWT is now operating as one big mirror, which means greater resolution than 18 smaller ones.
If you say so man. Not an expert by any means but I do know that the ellipticals with the bright centers are galaxies.
I can’t wait until they do a deep field image. It should be awesome.
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