NASA will release the first images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope on July 12 in a live broadcast beginning at 10:30AM. Images will simultaneously be available on social media and this website. The images will be of these objects:

• Carina Nebula — one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky, located approximately 7,600 light-years away.
• WASP-96 b — a giant planet outside our solar system, nearly 1,150 light-years from Earth.
• Southern Ring Nebula — a planetary nebula (expanding cloud of gas surrounding a dying star), approximately 2,000 light years from Earth.
• Stephan’s Quintet — the first compact galaxy group ever discovered (in 1877), about 290 million light-years away
• SMACS 0723 — Galaxy clusters in the foreground that magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a deep field view of extremely distant and faint galaxy populations.

Separately, the Christa McAuliffe Center at Framingham State University will host a free open house on July 29, 6PM-9PM, to celebrate the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope. Participants will be able to ask NASA Solar System Ambassadors questions about the universe and explore the night sky with telescopes. A keynote presentation will talk about the Webb Space Telescope and the first images received from it, and there will be free-choice learning activities related to astro imaging. For directions, use 7 Maynard Rd in Framingham. Face masks are required indoors.