NASA selects early science targets for JWST

[mfb]

News
A variety of targets will be looked at, including planets and moons within our solar system, various star systems and many galaxies from the early universe, where the high redshift and Hubble’s wavelength range made observations difficult.

For exoplanets, the strategy is to look at the atmospheres of big planets first. Smaller ones will follow once the easier targets are well understood.

James Webb Space Telescope has to point away from the Sun, so the specific targets for the first months will depend on the launch date (not earlier than 2019).
All the data from the early observations will be accessible freely immediately.

 

[ISamson]

I can't wait until the JWST finally comes out! But it will still have to travel to the observational location...

 

[mfb]

It will need about a month to reach its target, and most of the many unfolding steps happen during that time. It will make many people very nervous - if something goes wrong it could be really hard to fix it. Unlike Hubble, it will be 1.5 million km away from Earth, servicing missions would be tricky (although not impossible).