(ORDO NEWS) — After reviewing more than 1,000 research proposals from astronomers around the world, NASA has prepared a list of targets that the James Webb Space Telescope will study , and made public all but those that will be observed first.
James Webb, the space agency’s largest and most powerful telescope ever built, has honed its photographic skills and will soon be ready to go full-scale to capture crisp, detailed photographs of cosmic structures and phenomena.
In a statement made during the press conference, Space Telescope Operations Scientist Jane Rigby said the primary targets are special enough to be kept under wraps for the time being.
“Yes, targets for the first top-secret images have been selected and will be released later,” Rigby said. “The science program for the space telescope is scheduled more than a year ahead.”
Among the known targets chosen by NASA were two small galaxies (Large and Small Magellanic Clouds ) outside the Milky Way and the remnants of an exploding giant star (the Butterfly Nebula).
James Webb ready to go?
When exactly will we be able to see the first results of the space telescope? The mirror alignment process should be completed by the end of June, and scientific observations are expected to begin in early July.
Will it be a continuation of the historic mission of the Hubble Space Telescope , the predecessor of the James Web? Maybe these will be pictures of a star around which a potentially habitable exoplanet revolves? In anticipation of further comments from NASA, we, unfortunately, can only guess.
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