Premium Only Content

Photons Received: Webb Sees Its First Star
The James Webb Space Telescope is nearing completion of the first phase of the months-long process of aligning the observatory’s primary mirror using the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument.
The team's challenge was twofold: confirm that NIRCam was ready to collect light from celestial objects, and then identify starlight from the same star in each of the 18 primary mirror segments. The result is an image mosaic of 18 randomly organized dots of starlight, the product of Webb's unaligned mirror segments all reflecting light from the same star back at Webb's secondary mirror and into NIRCam's detectors.
What looks like a simple image of blurry starlight now becomes the foundation to align and focus the telescope in order for Webb to deliver unprecedented views of the universe this summer. Over the next month or so, the team will gradually adjust the mirror segments until the 18 images become a single star.
Music credit: Universal Production Music -Transitions Instrumental by Cotton Niblett
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Michael McClare (KBRwyle): Lead Producer
Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (KBRwyle): Lead Animator
Jonathan North (KBRwyle): Animator
Michael McClare (KBRwyle): Lead Writer
Michael McClare (KBRwyle): Lead Videographer
Michael McClare (KBRwyle): Lead Editor
Michael McClare (KBRwyle): Lead Motion Graphics
-
59:15
VINCE
2 hours agoRiots Explode Across the Country | Episode 65 - 06/16/25
161K88 -
LIVE
Bannons War Room
3 months agoWarRoom Live
23,074 watching -
DVR
Benny Johnson
1 hour ago'No Kings' Political Assassin ARRESTED After Manhunt, Mugshot Released | 'Release The Manifesto'
29.3K23 -
LIVE
Caleb Hammer
1 hour agoI Tried Saving Their Relationship, But She's A B*tch | Financial Audit
169 watching -
1:09:17
Dear America
3 hours agoDid Trump Just Open The Door To War?! + NEW INFO On MN Assassination!!
85.7K82 -
LIVE
GloryJean
1 hour agoA GOOD week ALWAYS Starts with Good Monday, Let's VIBE 😎
78 watching -
1:41:25
Badlands Media
9 hours agoBadlands Daily: June 16, 2025
33.9K3 -
2:12:44
Matt Kohrs
10 hours agoStocks Bounce, Oil Falls & Breaking Market News || The MK Show
37.9K5 -
LIVE
Wendy Bell Radio
7 hours agoCAPTURED
8,928 watching -
4:36
Sugar Spun Run
3 hours ago $0.24 earnedPink Lemonade
18.6K2