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Webb captivates with cosmic images - 20th July 2022

Blasting off from Europe's Kourou spaceport in French Guiana on 25th December 2021, the James Webb telescope travelled into a solar orbit 1.5 million kilometres out from Earth. 7 months on, its astounding images are wowing astronomers and public alike.

The first released provided the deepest and sharpest view of the cosmos ever seen, revealing a dazzling array of hitherto unseen galaxies reaching back 13 billion years towards the beginning of time. Their light comes from some of the earliest stars in the universe, shining 800 million years after the universe formed.

The $10 billion Webb telescope claims the mantle of the most expensive instrument to leave Earth. Its primary mirror, three times that of Hubble, measures 6.5 metres in diameter, comprising 18 manoeuvrable hexagonal mirrors coated with gold. This reflects into Webb's infrared cameras, revealing light that's travelled such distances that it's shifted from the visible spectrum into longer infrared wavelengths.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson commented that "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."

The new view of the universe Webb provides has astronomers' jaws dropping worldwide – such as depicting interaction between two suns in the image of star death in the Southern Ring Nebula.

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

Beyond Webb's stunning images, the data they represent is rich food for thought in the astronomy and astrophysics community. Its analysis of gas giant WASP-96 b has verified the presence of steamy water vapour in its atmosphere, at 1,150 light years removed, and promises to identify planets capable of supporting life.

With time on Webb being portioned out to projects by Earth's most preeminent astronomers and astrophysicists, the telescope offers tantalising hopes. Combining its insights with data from Spitzer and Hubble, we may shed light on the enduring mysteries about the cosmos.

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