If you were in awe of the deep view of the universe captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, which was revealed yesterday by U.S. President Joe Biden, brace for more. The main image release will take place today, July 12, beginning at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT). You can watch all the excitement here at Space.com courtesy of NASA or directly through the agency's website. Additional events will take place later in the day and on July 13.
The release comes after half a year of in-space commissioning work, NASA will release the first science images from its next-generation space observatory in July. Here's how you can tune in to the historic event for free.
The James Webb Space Telescope carries four cutting-edge instruments designed to examine everything from solar system objects to distant, old galaxies formed in the early universe only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. The instruments are roughly halfway through their mode checks as the observatory continues clicking through milestones smoothly in deep space after its launch on Dec. 25, 2021.
Live updates: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope mission
Related: How the James Webb Space Telescope works in pictures
Full schedule:
Tuesday, July 12
9:45 a.m. EDT / 1345 GMT: Live coverage of opening remarks from NASA leadership and Webb mission personnel will air here at Space.com, as well as on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency's website.
10:30 a.m. EDT / 1430 GMT: Live coverage of the image release will air here at Space.com, as well as on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency's website. The public also can watch live on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, and Daily Motion.
12 p.m. EDT / 1600 GMT: NASA will hold a joint media briefing with its partners at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center near Baltimore. The briefing will stream live here at Space.com, as well as on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Participants include:
- Eric Smith, Webb program scientist and Astrophysics Division chief scientist, NASA Headquarters
- Knicole Colón, Webb deputy project scientist for exoplanet science, NASA Goddard
- René Doyon, principal investigator for the Canadian Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph, University of Montreal
- Christopher Evans, Webb project scientist, ESA
- Klaus Pontoppidan, Webb project scientist, STScI
- Jane Rigby, Webb operations project scientist, NASA Goddard
- Amber Straughn, Webb deputy project scientist for communications, NASA Goddard
Wednesday, July 13
At 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT), a NASA Science Live show will air. Called Webb’s First Full-Color Images Explained, it will air live on the NASA Science Live website, as well as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Viewers can submit questions on social media using the hashtag #UnfoldtheUniverse or by leaving a comment in the chat section of the Facebook or YouTube stream.
A simultaneous live social media event will take place in Spanish on NASA en español YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter accounts.
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