The alignment of the James Webb Space Telescope is now officially complete, and the optical performance is apparently exceeding all engineering expectations.

The team released an "alignment evaluation image" today, and it is staggeringly sharp.

The target was a single, unremarkable star, but the background of the image is absolutely littered with hundreds of distant, ancient galaxies that just happen to be in the field of view. The fact that Webb can casually pick up such faint background objects during a simple calibration test hints at just how powerful this observatory is going to be. The mid-infrared instrument (MIRI) has also reached its frosty operating temperature of just 7 Kelvin, meaning we are perfectly on track for summer science.

NASA’s Webb Reaches Alignment Milestone, Optics Working Successfully