Now that six months have passed since the James Webb Space Telescope was launched into orbit, we are incredibly close to seeing the first scientific images the telescope took.
These will reveal the deepest, most remote stretches of the universe ever seen.
In preparation for the upcoming live reveal of James Webb's first-ever science images, NASA officials have spoken about the experience of seeing the first fruits of a 20-year project. Some of them revealed they came close to tears.
Since James Webb launched on December 25, 2021, NASA's team has been working hard to move the telescope into its final orbital position at L2, roughly 1.5 million kilometers (1 million miles) from Earth.
They have also been unfolding the telescope and calibrating its cameras and sensors while everything also cools to extremely cold temperatures.
Now though, the team has also seen the first scientific images taken by James Webb's massive 6.5-meter diameter mirror.
"The images are being taken right now," explained Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's scientific programs lead, during a news conference on Wednesday, June 29. "There is already some amazing science in the can, and some others are yet to be taken as we go forward. We are in the middle of getting the history-making data down."
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