NASA announced Wednesday that the first photographs from the James Webb Space Telescope are expected to be released on July 12.

Testing of the observatory has been underway since it arrived at one of the Sun-Earth system’s LaGrange points on January 24.

“Our goals for Webb’s first images and data are both to showcase the telescope’s powerful instruments and to preview the science mission to come,” Klaus Pontoppidan, an astronomer and Webb project scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, said. “They are sure to deliver a long-awaited ‘wow’ for astronomers and the public.”

There are four scientific instruments on board the orbiting telescope. The Near-Infrared Camera, Near-Infrared Spectrograph, Mid-Infrared Instrument, and Fine Guidance Sensor/ Near InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectrograph must be calibrated before observations can be undertaken. Once that step is complete project engineers must measure the performance of each component. They will then calculate and execute final adjustments to them.

The clarity or depth of the images that will be forthcoming next month is difficult to predict. Completion of optical tests in March indicated that the telescope’s performance at least meets expectations. That phase of testing aligned the Near-Infrared Camera to the telescope’s primary and secondary mirrors.

“Of course, there are things we are expecting and hoping to see, but with a new telescope and this new high-resolution infrared data, we just won’t know until we see it,” STScI’s lead science visuals developer Joseph DePasquale said.

NASA will emphasize specific scientific goals in deciding which images to release. Those goals include improvement of human understanding of the early universe, galaxy formation, the lifecycle of stars, and the atmospheres of exoplanets.

The Near-Infrared Camera is designed to receive electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths up to five microns, which is sensitive enough to detect cool red stars. The Mid-Infrared Instrument will focus on wavelengths up to 30 microns. Astronomers will use that device to observe asteroids, comets, planets, and protoplanetary discs. Both will enable study of interstellar dust, some of which exists at cool temperatures.