NASA has finally landed on the list of targets that it wants the James Webb Space Telescope to study. This list was finalized after receiving around 1,000 research proposals from astronomers around the world.
Previously, the telescope has been taking practice shots, and now it is ready to work for what it was developed. It was reported that Webb’s operations project scientist Jane Rigby said the first photo location was special enough to be kept under wraps.
“Yes, the targets have been chosen for the super-secret first images that will be released,” Rigby said. “We’ve selected more than a full year of science. Those programs have been fully specified. The computer files that tell Webb how to take the data, we have all those in hand.”
One of the targets chosen by NASA that Webb will study is two small galaxies outside the Milky Way and the remnants of an exploded giant star.
The outcome might come in July if all goes well and on time. The aligning process should wrap up by the end of June and scientific observations are expected to start in early July.
In the meantime, we can keep guessing what the first photographed target will be.
