After commissioning, Webb's first full-colour images and spectra were released in July 2022.
Commissioning – including alignment of the 18 mirror segments to act as one mirror and calibration of 17 science modes – was completed on 10 July 2022 [1, 3]. On 11 July the first image, of the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, was unveiled by US President Joe Biden, and the full set was published on 12 July [6].
The deep-field image reveals galaxies whose light travelled for about 13.1 billion years, when the universe was less than a billion years old, and was taken in 12.5 hours of exposures [6].
NASA Science: Webb FAQs · NASA Science: NASA's Webb Telescope Launches to See First Galaxies, Distant Worlds (25 Dec 2021) · K. A. Parrish, C. Starr (NASA GSFC): Launching and Deploying the James Webb Space Telescope, IAC-22-B6.3.1 (NASA NTRS 20220013198) — full list on James Webb Space Telescope