The Webb operates at infrared wavelengths up to 50 times longer than those of visible light. It sees farther into the universe and sees deeper into the obscured regions. It, therefore, extends our view of the universe closer to its beginning and exposes the process of formation of stars and planets.

The Hubble telescope was about the size of a school bus whereas the Webb is the size of a tennis court. Its eight mirrors are light collecting bucket, and are six times bigger.

The first Webb image has been released in July 2022. It is a picture of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. It is the deepest image of a slice of the universe. The Webb has also carried out spectroscopy of 48 of the galaxies in this field, measuring the red-ward shift of their spectra. The red-shift provides an estimate of the distance. The one out of these 48 galaxies has the highest red-shift. It is so distant that its light has taken 13.1 billion years to travel to us. It covers almost the entire 13.8 billion year lifetime of the universe.

In picture 2, there is spectrum of a planet WASP-96 b orbitting a distant star. There is presence of water in the planet’s atmosphere. The Webb will help characterising exoplanets. We will know which planets are habitable, and whether the conditions conducive to life exist there.

The third image is that of a planetary nebula NGC 3132 showing its detailed structure. A nebula is formed when a star is dying. The central part of the star becomes a dwarf after contracting.

Picture 4 shows a nursery of newly forming star and planets. It is the process of the stars being born.

Picture 5 shows Stephan’s Quintet. It is a composite of 1000 images. Quintet is a compact group of galaxies. There is a blackhole at the centre of one galaxy.

The vastness of the universe makes us realise that we are just a speck. Still we take effort to figure out the majesty of the universe with our three pounds of grey matter.