And did I tell you that while working on the #JWST Orion data all summer long, I was also listening to Icelandic language lesson tapes?

I'm almost fluent now, according to my friend Sævar Helgi Bragason, who I saw in Reykjavik last weekend & who wrote this lovely piece (I think )

#PiecesOfOrion

https://www.stjornufraedi.is/frettir/webb-gaegist-inn-i-sverdthokuna-i-orion

And here's one from Jonathan O'Callaghan at the New York Times (paywalled, but hopefully some of you will have access )

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/science/orion-nebula-webb-planets.html

Another nice piece about our #JWST Orion images & results in The Guardian – thanks to Hannah Devlin for talking to me about them, & also to Matthew Bate & Ant Whitworth, star formation theorists, for their takes.

The Jupiter Mass Binary Objects or JuMBOs are a really big discovery, we believe. Check out the paper led by my colleague Sam Pearson that we've submitted to Nature here: markmccaughrean.net/science

(But there's more ...)

#PiecesOfOrion

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/oct/02/jumbos-jupiter-mass-binary-objects-discovery-orion-nebula-new-astronomical-category

Some nice additional pictures & words from Jonathan Amos at the BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66974738

And we are live

It has only taken 25 years to get to this point, but here we are.

I'll post much more soon, but first I think need a moment.

#JWST #PiecesOfOrion #Astrodon

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb/Webb_s_wide-angle_view_of_the_Orion_Nebula_is_released_in_ESASky

It's cloudy here in The Netherlands today

Much like it is in many star-forming regions

Less than 90 minutes to wait until our full #JWST images of the inner Orion Nebula & Trapezium Cluster are released

They will be downloadable at www.esa.int & viewable on sky.esa.int, while the two preliminary science papers will be at markmccaughrean.net/science

Have a look around the images & post your favourite bits with #PiecesOfOrion. Here's a tiny preview

Heads up

In just over 13 hours time, at 12:00CEST, 11:00BST, & 06:00EDT, we'll be releasing the images & early science results from our #JWST survey of the inner Orion Nebula & Trapezium Cluster

It has been a crazy amount of work over the past few months, but we think the pictures are spectacular (& huge!), & some of the science results very cool

This is one tiny crop: view & download the full images tomorrow & post your favourite #PiecesOfOrion here

#Astrodon
#IAmExhausted