![]() ![]() However, these new images will be the first in full colour and the first to showcase Webb’s full science capabilities. “Of course, there are things we are expecting and hoping to see, but with a new telescope and this new high-resolution infrared data, we just won’t know until we see it,” said STScI’s lead science visuals developer Joseph DePasquale.Įarly alignment imagery has already demonstrated the unprecedented sharpness of Webb’s infrared view. While careful planning for Webb’s first full-colour images has been underway for a long time, the new telescope is so powerful that it is difficult to predict exactly how the first images will look. Webb reaches alignment milestone: image of focused star “Typically, the process from raw telescope data to final, clean image that communicates scientific information about the Universe can take anywhere from weeks to a month,” Pagan said. “I feel very privileged to be a part of it,” said Alyssa Pagan, a science visuals developer at STScI. ![]() Then the production team will receive the data from Webb’s instrument scientists and process it into images for astronomers and the public. The team will proceed through a list of targets that have been preselected and prioritised by an international committee to exercise Webb’s powerful capabilities. Once each of Webb’s instruments has been calibrated, tested, and given the green light by its science and engineering teams, the first images and spectroscopic observations will be made. “They are sure to deliver a long-awaited ‘wow’ for astronomers and the public.” “Our goals for Webb’s first images and data are both to showcase the telescope’s powerful instruments and to preview the science mission to come,” said astronomer Klaus Pontoppidan, Webb project scientist at STScI. “These images will be the culmination of decades of dedication, talent, and dreams – but they will also be just the beginning.”ĭeciding what Webb should look at first has been a project more than five years in the making, undertaken by an international partnership between NASA, ESA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, USA, home to Webb’s science and mission operations. The release of Webb’s first full-colour images will offer a unique moment for us all to stop and marvel at a view humanity has never seen before,” said Eric Smith, Webb program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “As we near the end of preparing the observatory for science, we are on the precipice of an incredibly exciting period of discovery about our Universe. Behind the scenes: creating Webb’s first images ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |