PENNSYLVANIA, USA — A little over one year ago, NASA scientists started sharing images from the new James Webb Space Telescope.
The most recent image shows how our universe is still growing.
A very excited Dr. Taylor Hutchinson, an astrophysicist with NASA, spoke with Newswatch 16's John Hickey online about the James Webb Space Telescope.
"It's been really exciting," said Hutchinson. "It's the cutting edge feat of engineering observatory that's really opening up new eyes on the universe."
"Every single image that we take, we're seeing more features, more faint light than we were ever expecting," said Hutchinson.
A new image released on the one-year anniversary of James Webb being in space shows how our universe is still growing.
"What you're looking at is the closest star farm region to Earth called Rho Ophiuchi," said Hutchinson. "What you're seeing are about 50 young stars in the process of forming and growing."
NASA scientists can see this star farm region because the James Webb telescope uses infrared light to see into space.
"You see these horizontal and vertical really bright red bands that look like lava," said Hutchinson. "These are actually jets of material that are being spewed out from stars that are forming in different regions."
Dr. Hutchison says NASA scientists are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in space observation with the James Webb.
"Astronomers love to push the limits of things," said Hutchinson. "We're going to push this telescope as far as we can. To look back as far back in time as we can or in detail as possible at the atmospheres of exoplanets. Or try to find as many stars as possible."
Check out the latest images from the James Webb Space Telescope here.