The James Webb Space Telescope releases first full-colour images and data

Eta carinae nebula - Top: The Carina Nebula. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI - On Monday, NASA released the first full-colour image from the James Webb Space Telescope. More images and data followed Tuesday afternoon, which included spectrographic data taken by hardware in part designed and built at UCL. At a special preview event at the White House on 11 July, President Joe Biden unveiled the first full-colour, scientific images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. The infrared image shows galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 located about 4.6 billion lightyears away, with even more distant galaxies visible in the background. At a press conference the following day, NASA released additional images of the Carina Nebula, The Southern Ring Nebula, Stephen's Quintet galaxy cluster and spectrographic data of the planet WASP-96 b. The spectrographic data released on Tuesday was collected by an instrument known as the Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS). Also onboard the JWST is another spectrometer in part designed and developed at UCL, the Near InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec), which finished commissioning on 7 July and will be collecting scientific data soon.