This enhanced view of JWST’s first deep-field image of the cosmos overexposes the brightest galaxies and the cluster’s center in order to better bring out the details present in the fainter, redder, more distant galaxies. This first deep-field view took only half-a-day to acquire with JWST. With 20+ years of data to come, we can only imagine what will be revealed. (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI; Processing by E. Siegel)

7 spectacular lessons from James Webb’s first deep-field image

Even with only 12.5 hours of exposure time, James Webb’s first deep-field image taught us lessons we’ve never realized before.

On July 11 and 12, 2022, our understanding of the Universe changed forever as the first science images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) were released to the world. In contrast to the previous releases which had occurred — which consisted exclusively of images that were used for calibration, testing, and commissioning — these images were:

• taken with multiple instruments and in multiple filters,
• taken with the purpose of providing scientifically valuable data,
• and were able to be composited, for the first time, into full-color pictures that provide a feast for human eyes.

The very first image that was unveiled was a deep-field image: of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. All told, across the variety of filters and instruments that were used to observe it aboard JWST, a total of 12.5 hours of time was spent observing this region of space. Although that might seem like an enormous amount of time, it’s just ~2% of the time that was spent observing Hubble’s deepest view of the Universe: the eXtreme Deep Field, which consisted of a…