The James Webb Space Telescope launched on Christmas morning and is now about 1 million miles from Earth -- ready to send back its first color images.
Webb's team didn't choose the star called 2MASS J17554042+655127 for any scientific reason, explained NASA Webb operations scientist Jane Rigby. Still, even though the star was a hundred times fainter than the light a human eye could see, it was blindingly bright to Webb and a testament to the telescope's sensitivity., a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, used to test the telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument or MIRI.
Ahead of the big reveal, NASA released a list of the cosmic targets for Webb's first images. According to the space agency, the objects were chosen by an international committee with representatives from NASA, ESA, CSA and the Space Telescope Science Institute. The first color images by James Webb Space Telescope include the largest and brightest nebulae in the universe, the Carina Nebula, located 7,600 light-years away, and WASP-96 b, a gas exoplanet about 1,150 light-years away from Earth. The Southern Ring Nebula, an expanding cloud of gas surrounding a dying star, will also be featured in JWST's first data release.
JWST mission managers say the telescope has enough fuel to continue operations for several decades because of the precise launch trajectory. Its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, continues to operate after more than 30 years in orbit about 300 miles above Earth. NASA astronauts conducted several spacewalks to repair a flaw in Hubble's primary mirror after the first images came back blurry.
The James Webb Space Telescope observatory is about 1 million miles from Earth, meaning a repair mission would be out of the question. Thankfully, Webb's first images came back crystal clear.DAILY NEWSLETTERthat I have read and agree
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