Free Astronomy Magazine January-February 2018

40 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2018 SPACE CHRONICLES NASA’s JWST early science observations revealed by NASA A stronomers around the world will have immediate access to early data from spe- cific science observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Tele- scope, which will be completed within the first five months of Webb’s science operations. These observing programs were chosen from a Space Telescope Science Insti- tute call for early release science proposals, and include examining Jupiter and its moons, searching for organic molecules forming around infant stars, weighing supermassive black holes lurking in galactic cores, and hunting for baby galaxies born in the early universe. “I’m thrilled to see the list of as- tronomers’ most fascinating targets for the Webb telescope, and ex- tremely eager to see the results. We fully expect to be surprised by what we find,” said Dr. John C. Mather, Senior Project Scientist for the Webb telescope and Senior Astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Cen- ter, Greenbelt, Maryland. The resulting observations will com- prise the Director’s Discretionary Early Release Science (DD-ERS), and cover the gamut of Webb science targets, from planets in our solar sys- tem to the most distant galaxies. The program provides the entire sci- entific community with immediate access to Webb data so they have the opportunity to ana- lyze the data and plan follow-up observations. “We were impressed by the high quality of the proposals received,” said Dr. Ken Sembach, Direc- tor of the Space Tele- scope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland. “These observ- ing programs not only will generate great sci- ence, but also will be a unique resource for demonstrating the inves- tigative capabilities of this extraordinary obser- vatory to the worldwide scientific community.” The observations will al- so exercise all four of Webb’s science instru- ments, so that the astro- nomical community can T his artist’s illustration represents the scien- tific capabilities of NASA’s James Webb Space Tele- scope. Both imaging and spectroscopy will be central to the Webb mis- sion. [NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI)]