NASA announces Webb telescope’s first release targets that include exoplanets and far-flung galaxies

NASA has just shared the list of cosmic objects that the James Webb Space Telescope targeted for first observations. The release of the first images on July 12 will mark the official beginning of the premium observatory's science operations.

An international committee of representatives from NASA, ESA, CSA, and the Space Telescope Science Institute selected these cosmic targets that include:

• Carina Nebula - Located approximately 7,600 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina, it is one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky. The Carina Nebula is home to many massive stars, several times larger than the Sun.
• WASP-96b (spectrum) - Located nearly 1,150 light-years from Earth, it is a giant planet outside our Solar System, composed mainly of gas. It has about half the mass of Jupiter and orbits its star every 3.4 days.
• Southern Ring Nebula - Also known as the "Eight-Burst" nebula, it is a planetary nebula nearly half a light-year in diameter and is located approximately 2,000 light-years away from Earth.
• Stephan's Quintet - About 290 million light-years away, it lies in the constellation Pegasus. The Stephan's Quintet is notable for being the first compact galaxy group ever discovered. Four of the five galaxies within the quintet are locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters.
• SMACS 0723 - Massive foreground galaxy clusters magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a deep field view into both the extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations.

🎯 Target(s) acquired! The targets of Webb's first images have been announced: https://t.co/6BNlHANxTd✨ SMACS 0723 ✨ WASP-96b ✨ Southern Ring Nebula ✨ Stephan's Quintet ✨ Carina Nebula Tune in July 12 as we reveal Webb's first images & #UnfoldTheUniverse. pic.twitter.com/TLP2LenkPF

— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) July 8, 2022

Webb, a partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency, lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on 25 December 2021 on a long journey to unlock the secrets of the Universe. The premium space-based observatory will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it.