Ahead of big reveal, test images clicked by James Webb telescope show cosmos from 13 billion years ago

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has released test images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope ahead of the July 12 release of the first science-quality images.

After full review, the observatory has been confirmed to be capable of capturing crisp, well-focused images with each of its four powerful onboard science instruments.

While the purpose of this image was to focus on the bright star at the center for alignment evaluation, Webb's optics and NIRCam are so sensitive that the galaxies and stars seen in the background show up.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is aligned across all four of its science instruments. This Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI image shows part of the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Three of the four science instruments on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have completed their commissioning activities and are ready for science.

A close-up of the MIRI image is compared to a past image of the same target taken by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope’s Infrared Array Camera.

This selfie, taken by Webb of its primary mirror, was not captured by an externally mounted engineering camera, but with a special lens within its Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam).

The team has successfully worked through the second and third out of seven total phases of mirror alignment.