# @nasa on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CbLWaArptbH
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/11732962-nasa-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/ae9c87bd2a.jpg
- **Posted:** 2022-03-16T20:00:33.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NASA (@NASA) — https://gondola.cc/NASA

## Caption

The stars are aligning...so to speak. ⭐️

On March 11, the NASAWebb Space Telescope team fully aligned the observatory’s mirrors with its primary imager, keeping its optics on track to meet or exceed science goals. “We now know we have built the right telescope,” said Ritva Keski-Kuha, deputy optical telescope element manager for Webb at NASAGoddard. First science images are expected in about three months.

So what do we see here? While the purpose of this image was to focus on the bright star at the center for alignment evaluation, Webb's optics and NIRCam imager are so sensitive that the galaxies and stars seen in the background show up. Each of the primary mirror segments have been adjusted to produce one unified image of the same star using only the NIRCam instrument. A red filter was used to enhance visual contrast. The next image shows a new “selfie,” created using a special lens inside of NIRCam. The lens is strictly for engineering purposes.

Once fully operational, Webb will help solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program in collaboration with the EuropeanSpaceAgency and the CanadianSpaceAgency.

#UnfoldTheUniverse #JWST #Webb #NASAWebb #JamesWebbSpaceTelescope #NASA #Space #Stars #Science #Selfie

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## Tags

stars, selfie, jwst, webb, jameswebbspacetelescope, science, nasawebb, nasa, space, unfoldtheuniverse

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