We now have a
date for our first real images from NASA's next-generation observatory.
on July 12,
NASA will release the first operational images taken by the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope
Agency's 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
Webb team has shared several
images already, these were all interim alignment images taken to evaluate the observatory's capabilities.
Despite all the months
of careful alignment since the launch of Webb, it is difficult to predict exactly how the new images will look.
The high-resolution infrared
view of the universe will be unique, as Webb operates in deep space and has an 18-segment hexagonal mirror