James Webb Space Telescope stacks 18 starlights to produce one unified image; See here

The James Webb Space Telescope has inched closer to being a completely focussed observatory as engineers have successfully completed the third phase of the mirror alignment process. In its latest achievement, the Webb mission team has produced an image showing a single star by stacking 18 dots of starlight onto one another. According to NASA, these phases called Segment Alignment and Image Stacking now entail further small adjustments in Webb's golden mirrors. 

"Then, each of those 18 dots was stacked to produce one unified image. Up next: fine-tuning this single dot of starlight to make it progressively sharper," NASA's Webb team wrote on Twitter. 

Lee Feinberg, optical telescope element manager for Webb said as per NASA's blog, "We still have work to do, but we are increasingly pleased with the results we’re seeing. Years of planning and testing are paying dividends, and the team could not be more excited to see what the next few weeks and months bring."

NASA said that Webb's mirrors are still working as 18 small and individual telescopes instead of one single telescope, something which calls for lining up of the mirror segments. Henceforth, the mission team would work on the fourth phase, out of the seven planned, of mirror alignment known as Coarse Phasing. Engineers would use the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument to help them identify and correct vertical displacement between the mirror segments or small height differences. NASA says that they would get a sharper and more focussed image of the single starlight after the completion of this phase. 

Webb inching closer toward observing the early universe

Webb is currently focussed on the star HD 84406, which is being used as a reference point to bring the telescope into focus. The telescope is currently in its commissioning phase, however, it is inching closer toward observing the early universe and detailing the first light that emerged after the big bang. Said to be the most powerful observatory ever built, the Webb telescope has been designed to gather infrared light. Tap here to read more about Webb's functioning. 

Image: Twitter/@NASAWebb