NASA Releases List of Stunning Cosmic Targets for Webb Telescope’s First Images

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will soon reveal unprecedented and detailed views of the universe, with the upcoming release of its first full-color images and spectroscopic data. For a hint at the incredible views, see the preview from Webb’s Fine Guidance Sensor.

Below is the list of cosmic objects that Webb targeted for these first observations, which will be released in NASA’s live broadcast beginning at 10:30 a.m. EDT (7:30 a.m. PDT) Tuesday, July 12. Each image will simultaneously be made available on social media as well as on the agency’s website. Webb is a partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

These targets listed below represent the first wave of full-color scientific images and spectra the observatory has gathered and the official beginning of Webb’s general science operations. They were selected by an international committee of representatives from NASA, ESA, CSA, and the Space Telescope Science Institute.

• Carina Nebula. Located approximately 7,600 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina, the Carina Nebula is one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky. Nebulae are stellar nurseries where stars form. The Carina Nebula is home to many massive stars, several times larger than the Sun.
• WASP-96 b (spectrum). WASP-96 b is a giant planet outside our solar system, composed mainly of gas. The exoplanet, located nearly 1,150 light-years from Earth, orbits its star every 3.4 days. It has about half the mass of Jupiter, and its discovery was announced in 2014.
• Southern Ring Nebula. The Southern Ring, or “Eight-Burst” nebula, is a planetary nebula – an expanding cloud of gas, surrounding a dying star. It is located approximately 2,000 light-years away from Earth and is nearly half a light-year in diameter.

• Stephan’s Quintet: About 290 million light-years away, Stephan’s Quintet is located in the constellation Pegasus. It is notable for being the first compact galaxy group ever discovered in 1877. Four of the five galaxies within the quintet are locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters.
• SMACS 0723: Massive foreground galaxy clusters magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a deep field view into both the extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations.

The release of these first images marks the official beginning of Webb’s science operations, which will continue to explore the mission’s key science themes. Teams have already applied through a competitive process for time to use the telescope, in what astronomers call its first “cycle,” or first year of observations.

For more about Webb’s status, visit the “Where Is Webb?” tracker.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it.

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