On Dec. 25, 2021, the mighty Ariane 5 rocket launched the James Webb Space Telescope from Arianespace’s ELA-3 launch complex at Europe’s Spaceport located near Kourou, French Guiana. The launch and subsequent deployment of all of Webb’s systems was flawless.
Over the past two years, the Webb Telescope has upset the physics applecart with its numerous and stunning discoveries and images. Here are just a few, as reported by Space.com:
• “The image of the Pillars of Creation nebulae in which the very birth of stars can be seen—"numerous protostars…. Appearing as tiny red dots against the smoky backdrop of the pillars, these collections of dust and gas, each many times larger than our solar system.”
• The Telescope’s first direct image of an exoplanet—a colossal gas giant, 12 times larger than Jupiter.
