James Webb updates: NASA reveals 5 stunning, new images from telescope

NASA announced Monday all four of the James Webb Space Telescope's scientific instruments are ready to start being used.

The space agency said there are 17 modes, or ways, to operate the instruments. All have been examined and are "ready to begin full scientific operations."

The last step was was checking the the telescope's NIRCam, which block starlight so scientists can detect other nearby structures, such as exoplanets.

A test image taken by the James Webb Telescope offers a preview of what's to come ahead of the release of the first full-color images.

NASA shared the photo last week taken by one of the telescope's instruments, the Fine Guidance Sensor, or FGS, to demonstrate how strong, clear and sharp Webb's images will be.

According to the space agency, the "false-color mosaic" is made up of 72 exposures taken over a 32-hour period.

NASA noted that the primary focus of the FGS is not even to capture images but to make sure the telescope is pointing precisely at its target.

The James Webb Space Telescope was jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

Development began in 1996 but ran into several delays before it was completed in 2016 at a final cost of $10 billion.

The telescope was launched on Christmas Day and is orbiting 1 million miles from Earth.

It used infrared radiation to detect objects that are invisible to the human eye.

The four goals of the telescope are to study how the first stars and galaxies formed right after the Big Bang, comparing the galaxies from the past to those of today, how planetary systems formed and if there is any sign of life on other planets.

President Joe Biden will unveil Monday the first full-color image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

The preview event, to be held at the White House at 5 p.m. EST, will be the highest-resolution and the deepest image ever taken of the universe, according to the space agency.

It comes ahead of a set of images NASA will release during a broadcast Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. EST.