On Christmas Day last year, the James Webb Space Telescope was launched, leaving us with a mix of emotions. Awe mixed with a sense of bewilderment as the next chapter unfolds. 

An elation mixed with apprehension about whether the $10 billion machines would arrive on time. Relief and anticipation blended. Several months have passed since JWST lifted off from Cape Canaveral, celebrating a long-awaited launch. The mission is finally nearly over. 

On July 12, NASA will release the first full-fledged images taken by the gold-plated James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope is searching for exoplanets and piercing stardust to search for black holes.

The first images of the JWST

Observations are going to be unveiled in real-time by the JWST team on Tuesday, July 12 at 7:30 a.m. PT, as part of the main event scheduled for the same time during the day.

How about a tour of JWST's first images

Definitely. NASA will also be posting JWST's first full-color images and spectral data online here if you don't care for live unveilings. The dramatic release schedule adds to the drama. Our seats are indeed on the edge. 

NASA recommends that you follow the conversation on its Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts, as well, to stay up to date on what is happening with the mission. 

What will JWST's first images reveal

Some JWST pictures have already been released. I have mused quite a bit about them. Although they don't exactly qualify as 'the first images' of the scope.

For NASA to boot up the telescope, it must go through seventeen testings 'modes.' Think of them as checkpoints. Throughout JWST's journey, we've had a chance to see several luminescent, orange glimpses of what the agency hopes to achieve.

In essence, these are just products of the telescope's instrument calibration -- which you can learn more about here and not the final, highly anticipated image that scientists are referring to as 'JWST's first light.' 

NASA members who've already seen the true first light of the JWST said they were moved to tears during a press conference on Wednesday. 'As a scientist, an engineer, and a human, I am moved by what I have seen,' said NASA's deputy administrator Pam Melroy.

JWST is enthralling scientists because we do not know the results of it, and we simply don't know what to expect from it. Hence the intrigue. There are often headlines about the groundbreaking nature of this telescope because it's built to find things in the universe we might've never thought existed and answer questions about the evolution of time we never asked.

JWST differs from other high-tech telescopes, including Hubble. Infrared images allow us to view a region of the universe that the naked eye can't see, and even Hubble's powerful lens cannot see.

Infrared imaging basics

By detecting light from an infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum, JWST's infrared imaging instruments detect lightly invisible to human eyes. Our universe's timeline depends on this area of the spectrum, but previous observations have not explored it. 

The wavelengths of light that stars and galaxies emit continuously stretch out as they move away from us like a rubber band as they move away. These rays eventually extend into the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. 

The oldest, rarest, probably most valuable stars in the universe -- and anything illuminated by those stars -- appear only in infrared light because the universe expands continuously. Even squinting until our faces hurt and hoping until our faith dwindles, we can't see those really old, distant cosmic objects with our eyes or even a telescope lens. 

The JWST, on the other hand, can show us all the infrared goodness of the sky. Identify all the stars, galaxies, quasars, black holes, and maybe even exoplanets poised to support life that we never knew existed. Here is a good overview of the infrared phenomenon to put it simply, imagine that you are looking at the stars from a light-saturated New York City and again from a dark forest glen.

Even though the sky was the same, you'd see more sparkles among the dense foliage. All the light pollution had been removed. NASA's JWST takes this a step further. It will show us a universe without filters.

JWST has substantially more capabilities than Hubble in detecting infrared radiation. James Webb Space Telescope is currently designed to see a period in the universe's history that has not been seen by other space probes, such as the Cosmic Background Explorer in 1989.

Knowing that missing piece of the cosmic puzzle might confirm whether or not we have the Big Bang's story straight, how far the universe really extends, and if there is life out there one day. or maybe it's not us.  As for the possibilities, they are endless, but they will start to converge on July 12th powerfully and excitingly. The countdown to the first light from the JWST is up until then.