The wait is coming to an end: NASA is all set to release its James Webb Space Telescope's first images on 12th July, 2022

Nasa is going to release its James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) first full-colour images on 12th July 2022. This will mark a new dawn in space science with this revolutionary apparatus going online. We will get enhanced eyes through which we will be able to look deep into space and peer deep into time, right to the dawn of the universe. A time to rejoice for everybody associated with space science!! A time to thrill and wait for the release.

It will be just like an unveiling in an exhibition, drawing the curtain in a photo gallery. All the fine-tuning and adjustment that was necessary have been done and the device is all set to give results in some hours. Nasa will not only release the pictures of different astronomical subjects which are currently being studied by JWST but also give us spectroscopic data from the newly operational observatory.

Nasa has released a list of five celestial subjects which will be studied by JWST as its debut assignment. This list is populated by two nebulae (gas clouds that form nurseries for new stars) and two galaxy clusters. The idea is to look far and look back in time!! Among the data to be published, there is also the spectroscopic analysis of the atmosphere of an exoplanet. This exoplanet is 1100 lightyears away from Earth and roughly half the mass of Jupiter.  

Although all the subjects listed above have been known to us for a long time, there is an expectation of a different level with JWST. JWST will study its subject in the infrared spectrum and it is believed that its results will be 100 times more sensitive than its predecessor, the Hubble space telescope. 

Considering all these, it is expected that JWST will revolutionize astronomy providing us the first glimpse of the infant galaxies which date back to just 100 million years after the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago. The creation of the universe might just be in front of our eyes!! The very thought gives goosebumps indeed!!! 

So the countdown has begun and it is just a wait for a few more hours before JWST starts revealing before us some of the deep secrets of the universe. The live broadcast begins at 10.30 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, from the Goddard Space fight center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The released images will be simultaneously made available on various social media sites and also on Nasa's website at  https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages.

From 10.30 a.m. EDT, the live coverage of the image release broadcast will air on NASA TV, the NASA app, and also on NASA's website. The public can also watch this live on various social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, and Daily Motion. At 12 p.m. following the live broadcast, NASA and its partners (ESA & CSA) will hold a joint briefing at NASA Goddard. The briefing will be live-streamed on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the NASA's website.

By,

Prabir Rudra