The NASA has announced that he 12th of July will publish the first full color images and spectroscopic data captured by the James Webb. After this important step, which we have been waiting for months, the space telescope of 10,000 million dollars will finally start its scientific operation.
For the past few months, the space observatory has been preparing to show us the universe from a unique perspective. Throughout this complex process, he has calibrated his instruments, aligned his mirrors and has even given us his first catches to 1.5 million kilometers from the earth.
The telescope that promises to make history with its images
The truth is that the James Webb has already shown us some of its observation capabilities, and scientists are totally ecstatic. In early May, for example, he captured the Large Magellanic Cloud in great detail, dwarfing a shot taken by the old Spitzer Space Telescope.
However, July 12 will be a very important moment. We are talking about the date on which we will have the first “palpable” result of a scientific project that has taken decades of preparation and joint work by NASA, ESA and CSA.
“The release of the first full-color images of the Webb will provide a unique moment for all of us to stop and marvel at a sight humanity has never seen before (…) They will be the culmination of decades of dedication, talent and dreams , but they will also be just the beginning.”
Eric Smith, Webb program scientist.
NASA has given us clues of what we will see. According to the space agencyJames Webb teams have a list of shortlisted targets and prioritized by an international committee for these first “full color” captures. These are intended to show whether the telescope is capable of doing the job for which it was designed.
What’s next after the first images? These observations will mark, nothing more and nothing less, than the official start of science operations James Webb Generals. In other words, he will “graduate” to explore the universe. And the telescope has already defined its first scientific objective: to observe an enigmatic “super-Earth” of lava. The countdown is already running.
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