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NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
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A New View of Space
What do faraway galaxies look like? That’s one of many questions scientists hope to answer with the James Webb Space Telescope. Launched in December of last year, it’s the biggest, most powerful telescope ever sent into space. In July, NASA, the U.S. space agency, released some of the stunning first images taken by the telescope. They include photos of distant galaxies and newly formed stars.
NASA
The Webb telescope is about 1 million miles from Earth, orbiting the sun.
Our galaxy is called the Milky Way. The sun is one of billions of stars in our galaxy. But the Milky Way isn’t the only galaxy in the universe. There are so many other galaxies that scientists can’t count them all!
The Webb telescope is taking pictures of some of the farthest galaxies ever seen. They formed more than 13 billion years ago. Scientists are hoping that the Webb telescope will give new clues about the beginning of the universe.
Scientists also plan to use the Webb telescope to discover many other secrets of space.
“I can’t wait to see the discoveries that we uncover,” says NASA official Bill Nelson. “The team is just getting started!”
This photo shows an area of the Milky Way called Carina Nebula. A nebula is a giant cloud of dust and gas where stars and planets form.
1. Every dot in this photo is a star, similar to our sun.
2. These areas that look like mountain peaks are layers of gas and dust at the nebula’s edge.
3. Scientists aren’t sure how these features formed!
4. These are stars that formed from dust in the nebula.
How HUGE Is This Area?
The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second. It would take about 12 years traveling at that speed to cross the area shown in this photo.