When the James Webb Space Telescope revealed its first five images to the public in July, the scientific community was amazed. The ambitious project had involved decades of work, and it had paid off with some of the most detailed images of the distant universe ever put together.
Foremost among these achievements is how the telescope has allowed humans to better observe and catalog exoplanets, or planets that exist outside of our solar system. NASA describes the telescope as tailor-made to study those elusive bodies — which, by virtue of their comparatively smaller size, are far harder to image than distant stars. Webb is particularly adept at observing the atmospheres of exoplanets — an exciting endeavor, as understanding their chemical composition could be the key to scientists discovering extraterrestrial life.
