Now that the world has seen what the James Webb Space Telescope is truly capable of, astronomers all over the world are eagerly awaiting their chance to pore over the data gathered by the telescope.
The largest and most powerful space science telescope ever built by NASA, the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope (commonly referred to as Webb or JWST), was launched in December. Four unique instruments in the telescope work together to capture data in 17 different modes. In addition to examining objects in our own solar system, Webb will be able to gaze at some of the very first stars and galaxies to develop in the cosmos using these cutting-edge sensors.
During a live ceremony hosted at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland on Tuesday, July 12, the agency unveiled the first images from the ground-breaking telescope that is of scientifically significant quality. JWST has many years of science ahead of it, and comments made by some of the Webb team's researchers provide a preview of the ground-breaking research that will be produced by the innovative telescope.
"The first year of science observations have already begun. We have already taken data for scientists who want time in the first year," Klaus Pontoppidan, chief JWST project scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) said.
He pointed out that the secret to opening up fresh findings will be making that data accessible to the general public as the initiative goes on. "Those data will be released to the principal investigators of those programs in the next day or two, and some of them are public," he said. "We're just going full steam ahead."
The early science programs on the Webb timeline, according to Pontoppidan, were chosen in part for efficiency so that the telescope won't have to spend a lot of time shifting from target to target.
"The point of that is to make sure that there's even more data available from all the instruments and all the modes are spanning a wide range of science, that is public immediately [and] has no exclusive access period," Pontoppidan said during the news conference. "And so they get priority because we want the community to have as much data available, in particular by the time they get to propose again."
The importance of making a new proposal is underscored by the fact that Webb will issue annual requests for proposals from scientists outlining their ideas for the observatory's use. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland, which runs JWST, will then choose science programs to approve for each cycle-or year-of observations.
There will probably be more difficult or remarkable targets for the telescope as the observatory settles into its tenure now that astronomers have seen what the JWST is genuinely capable of.
"They can have more targets or they can go deeper than they thought," Smith said of scientists during the conference. "I think round two, people will be much more adventurous because they now know just how good the facility is."
