Five cosmic objects star in Webb’s first images

July 8. () –

The first scientific observations from the new James Webb Space Telescope, to be published on July 12, They include five cosmic objects.

These targets, listed below, represent the first wave of full-color science images and spectra the observatory has collected, and the official start of overall Webb science operations. They were selected by an international committee of representatives from NASA, ESA, the Canadian Space Agency and the Space Telescope Science Institute, informs the ESA.

— Carina Nebula: It is one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky, located approximately 7,600 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina. Nebulae are stellar nurseries where stars form. The Carina Nebula hosts many massive stars, several times larger than the Sun.

— WASP-96b (spectrum): It is a giant planet outside our Solar System, composed mainly of gas. The planet, located nearly 1,150 light-years from Earth, orbits its star every 3.4 days. It is about half the mass of Jupiter and its discovery was announced in 2014.

— South Ring Nebula: The South Ring, or “Eight Bangs” Nebula, is a planetary nebula: an expanding cloud of gas surrounding a dying star. It is almost half a light-year across and approximately 2,000 light-years from Earth.

— Stephan’s quintet: About 290 million light-years away, Stephan’s Quintet lies in the constellation Pegasus. It is notable for being the first compact group of galaxies ever discovered. Four of the five galaxies within the quintet are locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters.

–SMACS 0723: Massive galaxy clusters in the foreground magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, allowing deep-field viewing of both extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations.

The release of these first images marks the official start of Webb’s science operations, which will continue to explore the mission’s key science topics. Teams have already applied for time to use the telescope through a competitive process, in what astronomers call their first “cycle” or first year of observations.