Gerry Palmers Science 06.29.2022 21:Jun PM EDT

NASA Gives Hints on What the First Photos of James Webb Space Telescope Will Include

NASA gave hints of what the first operational images from the James Webb Space Telescope would be.

According to NASA administrator Bill Nelson, the $10-billion deep space observatory will first bring back "the deepest image of our universe that has ever been taken."

NASA and its partners, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, will unveil the first batch of full-color images beamed by the Webb telescope in a much-anticipated event on July 12. The deep space observatory is the largest and most powerful space telescope, and scientists indicated it could revolutionize our knowledge of the cosmos.

Webb to Show Earliest Objects Ever Seen

Nelson added that the image will present the earliest objects ever seen, though not mentioning what these early-universe objects Webb will train its gigantic lenses on, nor how old these objects are. He only said the image will be " farther than humanity has ever looked before, and we're only beginning to understand what Webb can and will do," he stressed in a Space.com report.

This image is expected to supersede a series of deep image fields from the Hubble Space Telescope that would show galaxies in our universe that formed close to a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, which happened about 13.7 billion years ago.

Nelson gave his remarks at a media event at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which oversees operations of the Webb Space Telescope. The NASA official discussed Webb's forthcoming operational image release set or July 12 along with the range of the earliest science probes the observatory will make, including objects from the solar system, exoplanets, the early universe and a host of other targets.

Webb to Reveal Expolanet Spectrum

Other images expected on July 12 will be a first spectrum of an exoplanet, notes Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's science mission directorate during the same event. This spectra, which gauges the amount of light emitted at certain wavelengths, typically offer hints of a planet's chemistry, which provide facts about its formation history.

It is worth noting that Webb is optimized to observe large gas giant planets and will likely not be able to get too much data from rocky, terrain-full worlds that might host life as we know it, as indicated from past NASA advisories. These images could offer new insights into the atmospheres and chemical makeup of other exoplanets in the cosmos.

How to View Webb Images During their Release

The U.S. space agency's first science-quality images from the deep space observatory will be released July 12 at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) and will be webcast live on NASA's website and social media channels.

Webb is completing checks on its four scientific instruments for operation its launching into space on Dec. 25, 2021.

The Webb telescope continues to send back data ahead of the July 12 event. NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said she was impressed with what she has seen so far, NBC News reported.