12 AMAZING JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE BREAKTHROUGHS

Webb is peering across the universe to discover new things about planets, galaxies and other cosmic objects

- Rebecca Sohn

NASA’s deep-space observing telescope is looking at the universe like never before. The James Webb Space Telescope is a pathfinder of scientific discovery, generating incredible insights about galaxies, planets, stars and all sorts of interesting cosmic objects. The telescope is near the beginning of its cosmic journey, as it is rated for 20 years of operations and just launched in December 2021. Billed as a successor to the venerable Hubble Space Telescope, Webb is also breaking ground in science excitement.

1 WEBB IS HAILED AS THE GREATEST SPACE BREAKTHROUGH

When Webb launched on 25 December 2021, it was the culmination of decades of work by NASA scientists and engineers. The launch went off without a hitch, as did the numerous steps of the telescope’s deployment in the following months. In mid-July Webb released its stunning first images. The infrared telescope will help us see almost every part of our universe in greater detail, including the most distant galaxies, allowing us a glimpse into the past. “Within days of [Webb] coming online in late June 2022, researchers began discovering thousands of new galaxies more distant and ancient than any previously documented – some perhaps more than 150 million years older than the oldest identified by Hubble,” editors of the journal Science said. The journal named Webb as its Science Breakthrough of 2022, while the journal Nature chose Jane Rigby, Webb’s operations project scientist, to include in their ‘ten people who helped shape science stories’ list for 2022.