What Is the Oldest Photo of the Universe?

What is the oldest kind of light that we can see? Microwaves coming from all around us, a vision from the early universe.

Production Details

All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA, ESA, and STScI except:

• Visualization of the reionization era courtesy of NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and the Advanced Visualization Laboratory at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications
• Silhouette of jumping skateboarder courtesy of freevector/Vecteezy.com
• All-sky image in visible light courtesy of Axel Mellinger, Central Michigan University
• Illustration of stork with baby courtesy of RetroVectors.com
• Weather map of the United States courtesy of NOAA
• Illustration of television set courtesy of freevector/Vecteezy.com
• Silhouette of weatherman courtesy of Josephtury/Vecteezy.com
• Illustration of hand adjusting thermostat courtesy of thirteenfifty/123RF.com
• Visualization of the inner Milky Way courtesy of ESO/M. Kornmesser

The science operations for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, developed in partnership with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, are conducted by AURA’s Space Telescope Science Institute.

Many thanks to Greg Bacon, George Becker, Mia Bovill, Bonnie Eisenhamer, John Godfrey, Adam Green, Mikey Hart, Hussein Jirdeh, Jason Kalirai, Courtney Kivowitz, Brandon Lawton, Katelin Mora, Bonnie Meinke, Denise Smith, Stephanie Smith, Massimo Stiavelli, Frank Summers, and Tracy Vogel.