News Release

‘Wonders from Webb’ Program Offered October 1 at Peaks of Otter on Blue Ridge Parkway

Starry vista looks like craggy mountains on a moonlit evening is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

News Release Date: September 23, 2022

Contact: Blue Ridge Parkway External Affairs Office

September 23, 2022 Update: There is an additional, complementary "Wonders from the Webb" event on Friday, September 30, 2022, at the Blue Ridge Music Center from 6:30-9:30p.m. More information is available here.

(Bedford, VA) - The National Park Service will host a special free program, “Wonders from Webb,” from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m., Saturday, October 1, at the Peaks of Otter Visitor Center amphitheater, milepost 85.6, on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  

To start the event, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Solar System Ambassador will share images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. At 8:30 p.m., a park service ranger will lead the 30-minute presentation, “Magnificent Moon,” in celebration of International Observe the Moon Night. The talk will highlight the lore and science behind Earth’s largest natural satellite. From 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., visitors can enjoy stargazing with telescopes set up in front of the Visitor Center.  

The Webb telescope, sometimes called JWST, is an orbiting infrared observatory that will complement and extend the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope, with longer wavelength coverage and greatly improved sensitivity. The longer wavelengths enable Webb to look much closer to the beginning of time and to hunt for the unobserved formation of the first galaxies, as well as to look inside dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming today. The telescope’s first images were released on July 12.  

Attendees are encouraged to bring a flashlight and dress in layers for the cool mountain weather. All ages are welcome. In the event of rain, the event will take place from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m., Sunday, October 2.  

The event is presented in partnership with NASA, Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, Belk Observatory at the Claytor Nature Center of the University of Lynchburg, Blue Ridge Astronomy Club, and Echo Ridge Astronomical Society.