APOD: 2022 March 19 - 2MASS J17554042 6551277

Good morning, Rallypoint, and welcome to the March 19th Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD): "2MASSJ [login to see] 1277." This is the 'alignment' photo from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The central star is in the constellation Draco, and lies approximately 1,987 light years from Earth.

Here's what NASA said about the new image: "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. At this stage of Webb’s mirror alignment, known as “fine phasing,” each of the primary mirror segments have been adjusted to produce one unified image of the same star using only the NIRCam instrument. This image of the star, which is called 2MASS J17554042+6551277, uses a red filter to optimize visual contrast.”

What captures my imagination about today's APOD is this: the "galaxies and stars seen in the background show up." When we view distant stars and galaxies, technically looking back in time. Why? We are dealing with how long it takes light to travel through the universe. For the most distant JWST targets, we are essentially looking way back in time from when stars and planets were formed after the Big Bang. Fun stuff.