NASA's Webb Telescope Reveals Deepest Ever View of Early Universe

The first image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (AP)
The first image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (AP)
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NASA's Webb Telescope Reveals Deepest Ever View of Early Universe

The first image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (AP)
The first image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (AP)

The first image from NASA’s new space telescope unveiled Monday is brimming with galaxies and offers the deepest look of the cosmos ever captured.

The first image from the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is the farthest humanity has ever seen in both time and distance, closer to the dawn of time and the edge of the universe. That image will be followed Tuesday by the release of four more galactic beauty shots from the telescope’s initial outward gazes.

The “deep field” image released at a White House event is filled with lots of stars, with massive galaxies in the foreground and faint and extremely distant galaxies peeking through here and there. Part of the image is light from not too long after the Big Bang, which was 13.8 billion years ago.

“We’re going to give humanity a new view of the cosmos,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told reporters last month in a briefing. “And it’s a view that we’ve never seen before.”

The images on tap for Tuesday include a view of a giant gaseous planet outside our solar system, two images of a nebula where stars are born and die in spectacular beauty and an update of a classic image of five tightly clustered galaxies that dance around each other.

The world’s biggest and most powerful space telescope rocketed away last December from French Guiana in South America. It reached its lookout point 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth in January. Then the lengthy process began to align the mirrors, get the infrared detectors cold enough to operate and calibrate the science instruments, all protected by a sunshade the size of a tennis court that keeps the telescope cool.

The plan is to use the telescope to peer back so far that scientists will get a glimpse of the early days of the universe about 13.7 billion years ago and zoom in on closer cosmic objects, even our own solar system, with sharper focus.

Webb is considered the successor to the highly successful, but aging Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble has stared as far back as 13.4 billion years. It found the light wave signature of an extremely bright galaxy in 2016. Astronomers measure how far back they look in light-years with one light-year being 5.8 trillion miles (9.3 trillion kilometers).

“Webb can see backwards in time to just after the Big Bang by looking for galaxies that are so far away that the light has taken many billions of years to get from those galaxies to our telescopes,” said Jonathan Gardner, Webb’s deputy project scientist said during the media briefing.

How far back did that first image look? Over the next few days, astronomers will do intricate calculations to figure out just how old those galaxies are, project scientist Klaus Pontoppidan said last month.

The deepest view of the cosmos “is not a record that will stand for very long,” Pontoppidan said, since scientists are expected to use the telescope to go even deeper, The Associated Press reported.

Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s science mission chief said when he saw the images he got emotional and so did his colleagues: “It’s really hard to not look at the universe in new light and not just have a moment that is deeply personal.”

At 21 feet (6.4 meters), Webb’s gold-plated, flower-shaped mirror is the biggest and most sensitive ever sent into space. It’s comprised of 18 segments, one of which was smacked by a bigger than anticipated micrometeoroid in May. Four previous micrometeoroid strikes to the mirror were smaller. Despite the impacts, the telescope has continued to exceed mission requirements, with barely any data loss, according to NASA.

NASA is collaborating on Webb with the European and Canadian space agencies.

“I’m now really excited as this dramatic progress augurs well for reaching the ultimate prize for many astronomers like myself: pinpointing “Cosmic Dawn” — the moment when the universe was first bathed in starlight,” Richard Ellis, professor of astrophysics at University College London, said via email.



UN Ocean Conference Sets Sail Off France on World Oceans Day

People take photos of vessels during the "Ocean Wonders" event in honor of World Oceans Day ahead of the UN Ocean Conference on Sunday, June 8, 2025, in Nice, France. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
People take photos of vessels during the "Ocean Wonders" event in honor of World Oceans Day ahead of the UN Ocean Conference on Sunday, June 8, 2025, in Nice, France. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
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UN Ocean Conference Sets Sail Off France on World Oceans Day

People take photos of vessels during the "Ocean Wonders" event in honor of World Oceans Day ahead of the UN Ocean Conference on Sunday, June 8, 2025, in Nice, France. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
People take photos of vessels during the "Ocean Wonders" event in honor of World Oceans Day ahead of the UN Ocean Conference on Sunday, June 8, 2025, in Nice, France. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

Dozens of research and exploration vessels from around the world set sail just off the French coastal city of Nice on Sunday to kick off the third UN Ocean Conference and pay tribute to World Oceans Day.

The event, themed “Ocean Wonders,” saw the vessels sail across Nice's Baie des Anges, or Bay of Angels, to spotlight the beauty and importance of the ocean while urging world leaders not to lose sight of its value as they make decisions about the planet’s future.

Thousands of delegates, including heads of state, scientists, and environmental advocates, are expected in Nice this week to confront growing threats to the ocean, and the need to transform pledges into protection.

The United Nations has called the threats a global emergency facing the world’s oceans as they confront rising temperatures, plastic pollution choking marine life, and relentless overexploitation of fish and other resources.

Just 2.7% of the global ocean is effectively protected from destructive activities like industrial fishing and deep-sea mining — far below the global goal of 30% by 2030, The Associated Press reported.

Participating boats included the Energy Observer, a solar-panel covered catamaran that was the first vessel to circumnavigate the globe using renewable energy alone. It produces hydrogen fuel on board via seawater electrolysis, offering a vision of zero-emissions maritime travel.

Other standout vessels included France’s Alfred Merlin, dedicated to underwater archaeology; the OceanXplorer, a high-tech billionaire-owned research yacht; and the WWF’s Blue Panda, which is working to map and protect the last remaining seagrass meadows in the Mediterranean Sea.

At the heart of the conference is the push to ratify the High Seas Treaty, adopted in 2023. If it takes effect, the treaty would for the first time allow countries to establish marine protected areas in international waters, which cover nearly two-thirds of the ocean and remain largely ungoverned.

“The High Seas Treaty is critical to ensuring we can protect biodiversity in the ocean,” said Rebecca Hubbard, director of the High Seas Alliance. “We’re in the middle of a biodiversity and climate crisis. We absolutely have to protect the ocean to address those crises.”

But even in waters already designated as protected, enforcement often falls short. Many countries, France included, face criticism from environmental groups over weak regulation and continued industrial activity within their marine protected areas.

“The ambition is not there, the speed is not there, and the scale has not been there,” said Sílvia Tavares, project manager at Oceano Azul Foundation. “Moments like UNOC are key to changing that.”

Several countries are expected to announce new marine protected areas, or MPAs, during the conference, along with bans on bottom trawling and other destructive activities within their existing MPA networks.

The “Ocean Wonders” fleet will remain docked in Nice and open to the public until the conference concludes on June 13.