page_title: James Webb Space Telescope
section_title: Early Release Science Program
hierarchical_section_title: James Webb Space Telescope / Allocation of observation times / Early Release Science Program
context_page_description: The James Webb Space Telescope is a space telescope that is planned to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA's flagship astrophysics mission. The JWST will provide improved infrared resolution and sensitivity over Hubble, and will enable a broad range of investigations across the fields of astronomy and cosmology, including observing some of the most distant events and objects in the universe, such as the formation of the first galaxies.
  The primary mirror of the JWST, the Optical Telescope Element, is composed of eighteen 1.32-metre hexagonal mirror segments made of gold-plated beryllium which combine to create a 6.5-metre diameter mirror that is considerably larger than the Hubble's 2.4-metre mirror. Unlike the Hubble, which observes in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra, the JWST will observe in a lower frequency range, from long-wavelength visible light through mid-infrared, which will allow it to observe high redshift objects that are too old and too distant for the Hubble to observe.
context_section_description: In November 2017, the Space Telescope Science Institute announced the selection of 13 Director's Discretionary Early Release Science (DD-ERS) Programs, chosen through a competitive proposal process. The observations for these programs will be obtained during the first five months of JWST science operations after the end of the commissioning period. A total of 460 hours of observing time was awarded to these 13 programs, which span science topics including the Solar System, exoplanets, stars and star formation, nearby and distant galaxies, gravitational lenses, and quasars.
caption: Atmospheric windows in the infrared: much of this type of light is blocked when viewed from the Earth's surface. It would be like looking at a rainbow but only seeing one color.
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