James Webb Space Telescope
Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the history of our Universe.
![A montage of the Webb Space Telescope over a composited background of stars and galaxies.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/jwst-spacecraftpotentialtargetsmontageflip-1200px-4-jpg.webp?w=4096&format=png)
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“In just two years, Webb has transformed our view of the universe, enabling the kind of world-class science that drove NASA to make this mission a reality,” said Mark Clampin, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Webb is providing insights into longstanding mysteries about the early universe and ushering in a new era of studying distant worlds, while returning images that inspire people around the world and posing exciting new questions to answer. It has never been more possible to explore every facet of the universe.”
The telescope’s specialization in capturing infrared light — which is beyond what our own eyes can detect — shows these galaxies, collectively known as Arp 142, locked in a slow cosmic dance. Webb’s observations, which combine near- and mid-infrared light from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), respectively, clearly show that they are joined by a haze represented in blue that is a mix of stars and gas, a result of their mingling.
Their ongoing interaction was set in motion between 25 and 75 million years ago, when the Penguin (individually cataloged as NGC 2936) and the Egg (NGC 2937) completed their first pass. They will go on to shimmy and sway, completing several additional loops before merging into a single galaxy hundreds of millions of years from now.
![Arp 142, two interacting galaxies, observed in near- and mid-infrared light. At left is NGC 2937, nicknamed the Egg. Its center is the brighter and whiter. There are six diffraction spikes atop its gauzy blue layers. At right is NGC 2936, nicknamed the Penguin. Its beak-like region points toward and above the Egg. Where the eye would be is a small, opaque yellow spiral. The Penguin’s distorted arms form the bird’s beak, back, and tail. The tail is wide and layered, like a beta fish’s tail. A semi-transparent blue hue traces the Penguin and extends from the galaxy, creating an upside-down U over top of both galaxies. At top right is another galaxy seen from the side, pointing roughly at a 45-degree angle. It is largely light blue. Its length appears approximately as long as the Egg’s height. One foreground star with large, bright blue diffraction spikes appears over top of the galaxy and another near it. The entire black background is filled with tiny, extremely distant galaxies.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/webb-nircam-miri-stsci-01j06y2cnayapkbw5ekm4s94xj-4k.png?w=4096&format=png)
Latest News
Webb's latest news releases in reverse chronological order. Search and sort the news feed with the controls immediately below.
![Arp 142, two interacting galaxies, observed in near- and mid-infrared light. At left is NGC 2937, nicknamed the Egg. Its center is the brighter and whiter. There are six diffraction spikes atop its gauzy blue layers. At right is NGC 2936, nicknamed the Penguin. Its beak-like region points toward and above the Egg. Where the eye would be is a small, opaque yellow spiral. The Penguin’s distorted arms form the bird’s beak, back, and tail. The tail is wide and layered, like a beta fish’s tail. A semi-transparent blue hue traces the Penguin and extends from the galaxy, creating an upside-down U over top of both galaxies. At top right is another galaxy seen from the side, pointing roughly at a 45-degree angle. It is largely light blue. Its length appears approximately as long as the Egg’s height. One foreground star with large, bright blue diffraction spikes appears over top of the galaxy and another near it. The entire black background is filled with tiny, extremely distant galaxies.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/webb-nircam-miri-stsci-01j06y2cnayapkbw5ekm4s94xj-4k.png?w=4096&format=png)
Vivid Portrait of Interacting Galaxies Marks Webb’s Second Anniversary
Two for two! A duo of interacting galaxies commemorates the second science anniversary of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, which takes constant observations, including images and highly detailed data known as spectra. Its operations have led to a “parade” of…
![Dr. Begoña Vila, Instrument Systems Engineer, James Webb Space Telescope](https://cdn.statically.io/img/science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/webb-peoplevilabegonalarge.jpg?w=4096&format=jpeg)
NASA’s Begoña Vila Awarded 2024 Galician Excellence Award
Begoña Vila, an instrument systems engineer from KBR who worked on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, has been selected to receive the 2024 Galician Excellence Title in the Sciences and Medicine Category for her career and work on Webb. This award…
![A growing protostar embedded within a molecular cloud. The center of the image shows a bright, red region, where the growing protostar resides, with a thin, gray lane of matter cutting through it horizontally, which is the protostar’s accretion disk. Above and below this region are blue triangular-shaped molecular clouds, which give the overall object an hourglass shape. The areas in the molecular clouds closest to the protostar have more pronounced plumes of blue gas. There are red, yellow, orange, blue, and green stars and galaxies scattered across the background.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/webb-stsci-01j0by7f04dahq55zjq4wcdbrz-2k.jpg?w=4096&format=jpeg)
NASA’s Webb Captures Celestial Fireworks Around Forming Star
The colors within this mid-infrared image reveal details about the central protostar’s behavior. The cosmos seems to come alive with a crackling explosion of pyrotechnics in this new image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Taken with Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared…
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/bente1.jpg?w=4096&format=jpeg)
Bente Eegholm: Ensuring Space Telescopes Have Stellar Vision
Bente Eegholm is an optical engineer working to ensure missions like the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope have stellar vision. When it launches by May 2027, the Roman mission will shed light on many astrophysics topics, like dark energy, which…
Webb's Blog
Webb's Blog posts offer an insider's point of view covering a variety of topics that include exciting Webb science images/spectra that are not yet peer reviewed and therefore not released as NASA feature articles ( IE the above official Webb News Feed). Blog posts are often co-authored by scientists and engineers and offer unique insights.
Read Webb's Blog![The background is mostly dark. At the center is a dark orange-brown circle, surrounded by several blazing bright, thick, horizontal whiteish rings. This is Saturn and its rings. There are three tiny dots in the image—one to the upper left of the planet, one to the direct left of the planet, and the lower left of the planet. These are three of Saturn’s moons: Dione, Enceladus, and Tethys, respectively. There is a slightly darker tint at the northern and southern poles of the planet. The rings surrounding Saturn are mostly broad, with a few singular narrow gaps between the broader rings. There is an innermost, thicker ring, and next to that is a brighter, wider ring. Traveling farther outward, there is a small dark gap before another thicker ring. In the thicker ring, there is a narrow faint band. There is then an outermost, faintest, thinnest ring.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/webb-flickr-53013132440-a5d066b36f-k-slice.jpg?w=4096&format=jpeg)
Latest Webb Blog
Reconnaissance of Potentially Habitable Worlds with NASA’s Webb
Small exoplanets are common in our galaxy, and some even orbit in the so-called habitable zone of their star. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has been busy observing a few of these small, potentially habitable planets, and astronomers are now hard at work analyzing Webb data. We invite Drs. Knicole Colón and Christopher Stark, two Webb project scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, to tell us more about the challenges in studying these other worlds.
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Latest 2024 Images
The image below is a SLIDESHOW. Hover over the image to see the image title and controls. Click the image to go to a detail page with more info and the ability to download the image at various resolutions (click downward arrow in lower right corner).
More Webb Images
What is Webb Observing?
See current, upcoming and recent past observations scientists are making with the Webb Space Telescope. View details about each observation's science focus areas, the instruments used and more.
View the Tool![Two side-by-side images of the same region of space. Superimposed on each is a simple, white line drawing of a telescope. Left: Drawing of the Hubble Space Telescope on a Hubble image showing numerous stars and a hazy blue to brown cloud of gas and dust. Right: Drawing of the Webb Space Telescope on a Webb image showing numerous stars and a pinkish yellow to brown cloud of gas and dust. The Webb image shows a more filamentous and billowy structure. There is no clear boundary between the two images.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/hubble-webb-observing-tool-logo-stsci-01hq194v8ts6pavzzwsxvdx6dz.jpg?w=4096&format=jpeg)
The Webb Mission
Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System.
Learn More![A Engineer looks over one of the James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror segments.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/webb-flickr-4808870003-8558a2628a-k-jpg.webp?w=4096&format=png)
Webb's Science Goals
The James Webb Space Telescope is a giant leap forward in our quest to understand the Universe and our origins. Webb is examining every phase of cosmic history: from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang to the formation of galaxies, stars, and planets to the evolution of our own solar system. Learn about the 4 main science themes for Webb.
Learn More![This image is from Webb’s NIRCam instrument, which saw this nebula in the near-infrared.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/webb-flickr-52212049510-bb98d2eab6-5k-jpg.webp?w=4096&format=png)
The Spacecraft
The Webb Space Telescope is the largest, most powerful and most complex telescope ever launched into space . It's design and development history stretches back before the Hubble Space Telescope was launched. Learn about the design, the major components and subsystems of Webb and see Webb in 3d in a 3d Solar System.
Learn More![Webb Spacecraft Rendering](https://cdn.statically.io/img/science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Webb_1.png?w=4096&format=png)
The International Webb Team
Webb is for the world, and from the world. Thousands of skilled scientists, engineers and technicians from 14 countries (and more than 29 U.S. states, and Washington, D.C.) contributed to the design, build, test, integration, launch, commissioning and operations of Webb. It is a joint NASA/ESA/CSA mission. Assembly and testing of the mirror and instruments occurred at NASA Goddard (GSFC).
Learn More![A full disk view of the earth from GOES 16, GOES East on the vernal Equinox.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/goes16-vernalequinox-flickr50209599563-99acbeb180-b.jpg?w=4096&format=jpeg)