US President Joe Biden unveiled the first full-color image of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, in a live stream on Monday.

The JWST is the most powerful telescope launched into space being 100 times more powerful than the Hubble telescope. NASA stated that this was “the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe”.

The telescope is used to understand the origins of the universe, and the formation of the galaxies, stars, and planets. It observes the universe through infrared light which is not visible to the human eye.

The image showed lights from stars and galaxies 13 billion years ago. NASA administrator, Bill Nelson, said during the live stream “they’re going back about 13 and a half billion years, and since we know the universe is 13.8 billion years old, we’re going back almost to the beginning. That is the discovery that we’re making with this.”

NASA then released more images on Wednesday after decades of work. The images showed the Carina Nebula, Stephan’s Quintet, and Southern Ring Nebula.

The telescope also captured the planet WASP-96’S atmosphere composition which has evidence of clouds and haze along with a distinct signature of water.

The telescope’s mission will continue for decades to come. NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy stated that the telescope has enough fuel to operate for 20 years.

The JWST was first developed in 1996. NASA collaborated with European and Canadian space for this project. It faced multiple challenges as well as the threat of its funding being nearly cut by congress. It was then launched on December 25, 2021.