We are one step closer to seeing the wonders that NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, named after James E. Webb, NASA administrator from 1961 to 1968, who played a crucial role in the Apollo program. Now, in a new update, the James Webb Space Telescope team says it has approved 10 of 17 science instrument modes as it prepares to begin science operations.
“The team has started taking some of the first scientific data, preparing it for publication starting July 12, 2022″ . This date “will mark the official end of Webb’s commissioning and the start of routine science operations .”
TIC Tac. There are only a few days left to see the first scientific observations of James Webb. We will witness again a historic moment for science and a new era for astronomy almost eight months after its launch in 2021, on Christmas Day from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.
The telescope will be used to search for signs of extraterrestrial life, a potentially habitable planet, and investigate some of the earliest known star systems in the universe .
For all these months since James Webb was launched on December 25, 2021, the NASA team has worked tirelessly to move the telescope to its final orbital position at the second Lagrange point, or L2, at approximately 1.5 million of kilometers from Earth. He has also been unfolding the telescope and calibrating the cameras and sensors on board while everything reached extremely cold temperatures for the proper functioning of the instruments on board.
We are already in the final phase. NASA will broadcast the reveal event live, which you can watch on its YouTube channel next Tuesday, July 12. If all goes according to plan, a fantastic new era of astronomical discovery awaits us as JWST will observe in long-wavelength visible light through the mid-infrared range: the first stars, the formation of the first galaxies and photographs with a quality that we have never seen. We’re looking forward to it, Webb.
Reference: NASA
