Webb's new perspective on universe - 20th July 2022

The James Webb space telescope was launched from French Guiana on 25th December 2021. It's now orbiting the sun approximately 1.5 million kilometres beyond the Earth. Within 7 months, it's begun transmitting images of the universe of unmatched clarity.

This stunning first image, teeming with galaxies, includes distant objects which shone 13 billion years ago in the early universe. Just 800 million years after the universe came into being, these galaxies would've formed from among the first stars.

Taking $10 billion to construct, Webb breaks records as the most expensive instrument to enter space. Its primary mirror, formed from 18 independently positioned, gold coated hexagons, has a diameter of 6.5 metres. Its infrared cameras gaze deep into the cosmos, capturing light from the early universe. Although this light's stretched out into invisible infrared by the time it reaches us, Webb brings it into sharp focus.

However, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson reflected on the image, "If you held a grain of sand on the tip of your finger at arm's length, that is the part of the universe that you're seeing. Just one little speck of the universe."

Astronomers the world over have been taken aback by Webb's images: among them, one of the Southern Ring Nebula revealing the death of a star in stunning resolution.

NASA Live: "We are ready to see Webb's first image of a star dying. A planetary nebula called the Southern Ring – wow!"

It's not merely the images – the data they carry is firing the imaginations of astronomers and physicists alike. Webb's confirmed the atmosphere of a faraway gas giant contains water vapour, from a distance of 1,150 light years. This enables us to determine which other planets might support life.

The world's leading astronomers and astrophysicists will be allocated time to work with the Webb telescope. It's hoped that their research, along with information from Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes, will bring answers to some fundamental questions about the universe.

NASA Live: "The last image is, wow! Look at that!"