The purpose of Webb’s latest image (March 22, 2022) was to focus on a bright star and evaluate the alignment progress, Webb’s optics are so sensitive that galaxies and other stars can be seen in the background.

After James Webb Space Telescope officials released a stunning image of a single star, the team is ready to get other telescope parts in line with the observatory's mirrors.

The $10 billion telescope successfully aligned with its near-infrared camera (NIRCam), as the star image showed. But the observatory still has four other instruments that it must be able to switch between with perfect alignment to obtain sharp images of distant objects.

The work will begin with the guiding instrument (called the Fine Guidance Sensor or FGS) and then extend to the other three instruments, a NASA update stated Thursday (March 17). Webb engineers expect that this process, called "multi-instrument multi-field alignment," will take six weeks to complete.

(Image credit: NASA/STScI)