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Behind the scenes: creating Webb’s first images
“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. 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. “These images will be the culmination of decades of dedication, talent, and dreams – but they will also be just the beginning.”
Deciding 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.
“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. “They are sure to deliver a long-awaited ‘wow’ for astronomers and the public.”
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. 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. Then the production team will receive the data from Webb’s instrument scientists and process it into images for astronomers and the public.
“I feel very privileged to be a part of it,” said Alyssa Pagan, a science visuals developer at STScI. “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.