First James Webb Telescope Images to Focus on a Planet, Nebulae and Galaxies
On July 12, NASA will release the first scientific images taken by the James Webb Telescope, but ahead of that reveal, the agency is sharing the names of the celestial objects on which the first images will focus.
The list(Opens in a new window) reveals the public can expect the images to cover two nebulae, a pair of galaxy clusters, and a planet outside our solar system.
The planet, called WASP-96 b, is a gas giant similar to Jupiter, but with only about half the mass. It resides about 1,150 light years from Earth and is notable(Opens in a new window) for having a cloud-free atmosphere, making it easier to study what makes up the planet.
NASA says the James Webb Telescope will take a "spectrum(Opens in a new window)" of the planet to better understand its makeup. This technique involves dissecting the emitted light from the planet as it crosses through its parent star. So in this case, we probably won't see an image of the planet, but rather an analysis of its composition.
The first images will also cover Carina Nebula and the Southern Ring Nebula, which other telescopes have captured before. However, the James Webb Telescope promises to record the cosmic clouds in even greater detail, thanks to its large mirrors, which can view images up to 100 times(Opens in a new window) fainter than what the Hubble Space Telescope can see.
The two remaining objects focus on galaxy clusters. The first, dubbed Stephan’s Quintet, is located over 290 million light years away, and is made up of five galaxies locked in a seemingly compact formation.
The second, called SMACS 0723, represents a larger cluster of galaxies, “permitting a deep field view into both the extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations,” NASA
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