It can be easy enough in our time to forget that there are, in fact, certain portions of the federal government that actually do things right.
NASA, for instance:
On March 11, the Webb team completed the stage of alignment known as "fine phasing." At this key stage in the commissioning of Webb's Optical Telescope Element, every optical parameter that has been checked and tested is performing at, or above, expectations. The team also found no critical issues and no measurable contamination or blockages to Webb's optical path. The observatory is able to successfully gather light from distant objects and deliver it to its instruments without issue.
"Distant objects" indeed! Take a look again at this beautiful shot:
That's HD 84406, which is over 250 light years away. That's far enough as it is—about 1,500,000,000,000,000 miles, give or take a left turn or two. But have a look at the little specks of light behind it:
Those aren't just a bunch of individual stars—those are entire galaxies. The telescope's instruments "are so sensitive that the galaxies and stars seen in the background show up" even though the center star is the main focus.
This great telescope is off to a great start!
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