St. Pete locals are about to be transported to deep space thanks to one of the biggest events in science. On Tuesday, July 12, NASA will be releasing the first images from its $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope, and a pair of St. Pete institutions are bringing the intergalactic celebration to the Sunshine City.

At 6 pm on Tuesday, July 12, the West Community Library at St. Petersburg College is hosting a viewing party for the new images, including a lecture by Dr. Kathleen Blackett, a NASA Solar System Ambassador. Dr. Blackett will present the images, providing information and explanation, while participants will also have the opportunity to make paper models of the telescope. The library is located at 6700 8th Avenue North.

Then, on August 5, Great Exploration Children’s Museum is hosting Space Exploration Day. In a program put on by NASA, kids will be able to experience the telescopes images in an interactive setting. Great Explorations describes it as a “unique opportunity to ask some of humanity’s biggest questions: How does the universe work? How did we get here? Are we alone?”

As part of the event exploring the night sky, a program inside their planetarium will take children on a journey “through a world of knowledge that includes astronomy, geology, physical geography, and more.” Space Exploration Day takes place from 10:30 am – 4 pm on August 5. Admission is included with museum ticket.

Deep space delivered to the Burg

The biggest and most powerful (and also most expensive) space telescope in history, Webb has been more than 20 years in the making and is giving astronomers their deepest and clearest look into the universe. A successor of sorts to the Hubble Space Telescope, Webb launched earlier this year, and its first images will show parts of the universe that human eyes have never seen.

From the telescope’s official website: “The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier infrared space observatory of the next decade. Orbiting far beyond Earth’s moon, Webb’s sensitive instruments will detect infrared radiation from Solar System planets, exoplanets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies. These observations will help us to better understand the early universe, how galaxies and stars change over time, and the characteristics of other worlds.”

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