In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re a little obsessed with the James Webb Space Telescope.
And why the hell not? Since lifting off from Earth in 2021, the powerful infrared telescope, a partnership of NASA and the European and Canadian space agencies, has looked 200 million years into the past. It’s taken some colossal and historic images, including the deepest photo of the universe ever. It’s spotted a molecule only made by living things in another world, spilled the secrets of a famous supernova, stared into galaxies that perplexed 19th century astronomers, found unprecedented things in the Orion Nebula, observed a perfect spiral galaxy, and glimpsed some of the universe’s “first light”. For example.
And now, you can have one of the JWST’s images as your watch band, if you buy a Swatch.
James Webb Telescope captures stunning images of a neighboring galaxy
Swatch has teamed up with the European Space Agency to make a collection of six images taken by the telescope available for its customisable Swatch X You watches. For example, you could choose that stunning image of the “Cosmic Cliffs” of star-forming region NGC 3324 within the Carina Nebula, taken in 2022. Or that of the section of the Eagle Nebula called the “Pillars of Creation.”
The “Cosmic Cliffs” within the Carina Nebula, photographed July 2022.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
You can choose a design on the Swatch X You website between Oct. 4 and Dec. 17 (it’s kicking off World Space Week). Of course, a whole image can’t fit into a watch band, so using the Swatch tools you can move the image around to the section you like most.
Credit: Swatch
The Swatch X You watches cost $138 (£114) each and come with a postcard of your chosen image and a themed sleeve.
It’s not the first collaboration between Swatch and space agencies, following the “Swatch in space” series inspired by the spacesuits worn by NASA astronauts.
