NASA, along with European and Canadian space agencies, will release the first scientific images of the new James Webb space telescope on Tuesday, and we now know what celestial bodies we will see in these historical images.
JWST is the long-awaited successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that was finally launched on Christmas Day after years of delays.
On Friday, NASA unveiled the list of cosmic objects that JWST will target for its first batch of full-color images that offer detailed and unprecedented views of deep space. If the impressive first test image of the telescope is an indication, it will be as good as any Instagram channel out there.
Targets include the Carina Nebula and the Southern Ring Nebula, which are bright areas of gas and other materials. The Carina Nebula (pictured above) is a so-called stellar nursery where stars are forming, and is full of massive stars that help make it one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky. The southern ring nebula is a planetary nebula – in this case, a large half-light-year-diameter gas cloud surrounding a dying star – and relatively close to the cosmic scale, just 2,000 light-years away. .
The southern ring nebula is also known as the “Eight Bursts” nebula because it appears to be an 8-figure when viewed through some telescopes.
NASA / The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI / AURA / NASA)
Two other targets that we will see in a fantastic high resolution next week are the galaxy group Stephan’s Quintet, a group of especially photogenic galaxies that seem to dance around each other for eternity, and SMACS 0723, which is a cluster of massive galaxies that can act. such as the so-called gravitational lens to help scientists see deeper into space and observe weaker galaxies.
This quintet of galaxies is made up of four galaxies that are actually close to each other and a fifth that appears nearby but is actually in the foreground and much closer to Earth.
NASA, ESA and the Hubble SM4 ERO team
JWST is also taking a look at the planet WASP-96b, a gas giant world about half the mass of Jupiter and located 1,150 light-years from Earth. The powerful new space telescope instruments should be able to provide new insights into the composition of the planet’s atmosphere and a fun teaser of what we will soon discover about other exoplanets, including those that are more Earth-like.
The images that the space agencies will release on July 12 are just the beginning. Scientists have requested the use of the telescope through a competitive process, and the first year of observations is already scheduled. It is very likely that JWST will change our perspective on some aspects of the universe in the coming months and years.