Webb Space Telescope pictures will be shown on Tuesday

Jul. 9—OXFORD — Pictures from the far reaches of the universe will be brought into focus for public viewing for the first time on Tuesday.

Images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope will be transmitted to J.F. Webb High School, which is serving as a host viewing station for the event.

Members of the public who wish to participate are asked to arrive at J.F. Webb by 10:15 on Tuesday morning. Images from the James Webb Space Telescope will be released starting at 10:30 a.m.

Special activities are planned for students in kindergarten through grade two from noon to 1 p.m.

At 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, J.F. Webb will host a virtual panel of experts who will discuss the images seen that day and respond to questions from the viewers.

NASA officials announced on Friday that the images they'll release will concentrate on five targets, among them the Carina Nebula, parts of which were likewise an early target for the Webb telescope's predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope.

The shared name of the Webb telescope and the school is no coincidence. James E. Webb, for whom the telescope is named, grew up in Granville County. J.F. Webb High School was named for his father, John Frederick Webb, who served as superintendent of Granville County Schools for 28 years.

James Webb was administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from 1961 to 1969, laying the foundation for such scientific successes as moon exploration, weather satellites, the space shuttle, not to mention probes beyond the confines of our solar system.

The James Webb Space Telescope offers the most distant human probe into the universe yet attempted.

It was launched on Dec. 25, 2021, and rocketed to its destination almost a million miles from earth, where it began taking pictures within our galaxy and outward to other galaxies.

Now some of those pictures will be on exhibit at J.F. Webb High School, followed by a virtual session with experts to discuss the images captured by the Webb telescope.

"The release of Webb's first full-color 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.

The first images will provide scientists a look at the early universe, the evolution of galaxies through time and the lifecycle of stars.

And Webb will continue to explore, pursuing predetermined scientific themes as well as being made available to teams of astronomers to investigate their own scientific interests.

It's part of the process of discovery, and the James Webb Space Telescope literally opens up new worlds for discovery.