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I enjoy reading books about the universe.
I like reading explanations, but I especially enjoy observing the beautiful and mysterious images.
Then one day, I happened to come across a snowflake-shaped space image.
Perhaps because winter was approaching, it particularly caught my attention, and I thought I should sketch it.
The image is a test photograph of a star taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) after it settled into orbit at L2 during the mirror alignment process.
The primary mirror of the James Webb consists of 18 hexagonal segments. In the early stage of alignment, these segments face slightly different directions, so when the telescope captures a single star, the starlight appears in 18 different positions.
Those lights create a bright, snowflake-like pattern through diffraction and interference.
Those lights create a bright, snowflake-like pattern through diffraction and interference.
On February 2, 2022, the first target was HD 84406, a bright star located near the Big Dipper.
This image is not a chaotic appearance of the universe but a “sketch of the cosmos” showing how the light of one star appears as different traces through multiple fragmented viewpoints.
What makes this image even more special to me is that it records the moment when the tool designed to see the universe was adjusting itself through traces of light. I, too, continue my own sketches just like James Webb.
What makes this image even more special to me is that it records the moment when the tool designed to see the universe was adjusting itself through traces of light. I, too, continue my own sketches just like James Webb.
