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James Webb Space Telescope

Webb is the largest and most complex observatory ever sent to space, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. 

Active Mission

Webb 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. Webb launched on Dec. 25th 2021. It does not orbit around the Earth like the Hubble Space Telescope, it orbits the Sun 1.5 million kilometers (1 million miles) away from the Earth at what is called the second Lagrange point or L2. 

Mission Type

Astrophysics

Partners

NASA/ESA/CSA

Launch

Dec 25, 2021

Arrival at L2

Jan 24, 2022

Key Facts

This image is from Webb’s NIRCam instrument, which saw this nebula in the near-infrared.

Webb’s innovative design tackles the key challenges for an infrared telescope

Engineers Prep James Webb Telescope for Integration

So big it had to fold origami-style to fit in the rocket and unfolded like a “Transformer” in space.

Webb Lagrange Points

Webb orbits the Sun 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth. (Hubble orbits 560 kilometers above the Earth.)

NASA’s Webb Sunshield Successfully Unfolds and Tensions in Final Tests

Webb has a 5-layer sunshield that protects the telescope from the infrared radiation of the Sun, Earth, and Moon; like having sun protection of SPF 1 million.

The image shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago

Webb's sensitiviy allows it to peer back in time over 13.5 billion years to see the first galaxies born after the Big Bang.

Mid-infrared image of the Cat’s Head Nebula by the James Webb Space Telescope. A bluish-gray filament of dust is in the center, stretching from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and a tail extending downward. The tail ends at the lower one-third of the image and widens to a triangular peak of dust. The cat’s head is turned toward the right, revealing a white glowing eye. The background is mostly red, with the top left and right corners revealing the black background of space. On the cat’s left is a dome-shaped grouping of faint filaments of dust. Scattered throughout the view are yellow and blue stars, some with Webb’s signature eight-point diffraction spikes.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s mid-infrared view reveals intricate structures within the nebula, traced by the emission from warm dust and carbon-based molecules excited by starlight. Changes in local conditions and compositions cause variations in color and brightness.
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
Featured Story

Ghostly Cat’s Head Nebula Lurks Within Sight of NASA’s Hubble, Webb

Like a spectral form rising out of a cold mist, NASA’s Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes have captured a…

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Search/Filter Webb News

The feed below is a mix of Webb Science Releases, Webb Science Blogs, Webb press releases and NASA articles tagged with "James Webb Space Telescope". To filter out everything except the Webb Science Releases, simply select that filter check box. Note filter "Webb Science Release Prelaunch" refers to articles released prior to Webb's launch and first images. Articles can also be filtered on a number of other tags and NASA Categories as well as Webb's four primary science themes.

Updated 10/16/26 - Image detail pages were removed from this feed aggregation to simplify it. You can find them on our Webb Image search/filter page.

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Date Range

Ghostly Cat’s Head Nebula Lurks Within Sight of NASA’s Hubble, Webb

Like a spectral form rising out of a cold mist, NASA’s Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes have captured a…

Oct 29, 2026
Article
Webb Measures Distance to Farthest Fast Radio Burst, Suggesting Origin

First discovered in 2007, fast radio bursts are enigmatic, millisecond-long flashes of radio emission from the distant universe. Their origin…

Oct 8, 2026
Article
NASA’s Webb Captures Commotion From Nebula’s Stellar Jets

A cauldron of cosmic creation is being revealed in a new image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Webb has…

Oct 6, 2026
Article
NASA’s Webb Provides Crash Course on Planet-Shattering Collisions

In the early history of our solar system, scientists theorize that a Mars-sized object called Theia smashed into the infant…

Oct 1, 2026
Article
NASA’s Webb Reveals Dynamic Panorama of Star Formation

This starry view of the nearby star-forming region IC 348 is one of the largest images released to date from…

Sep 15, 2026
Article
NASA’s Hubble, Webb Find Far-out Solar System Objects ‘Remember’ Past

For the first time, scientists used the joint power of NASA’s Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes to study some…

Sep 8, 2026
Article
Webb Opens Treasure Chest

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured this Aug. 6, 2026, infrared image of part of the Carina Nebula, a star-forming…

Aug 21, 2026
Image Article
Lion Nebula Roars to Life With NASA’s Webb

Observing across the starry “plains” of space, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has taken new images of NGC 2392, nicknamed…

Aug 10, 2026
Article
Webb Unravels Small Cosmic Details With Interferometry Observing Mode

One of the most recognizable features of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is its large, segmented, gold-coated mirror, which delivers…

Aug 4, 2026
Blog
NASA Webb Explores Family Tree of Newly Discovered Distant Objects

Since their discovery by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in 2022, little red dots (LRDs) have been the subject of…

Jul 29, 2026
Article
NASA’s Webb Discovers Hidden Planet in Famous Star System

Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a giant planet outside our solar system, called an exoplanet, hiding…

Jul 15, 2026
Article
NASA’s Hubble Discovers First of Star Cluster’s Missing Black Holes

Astronomers using archival data from Hubble and supportive observations from Webb have located their first stellar-mass black hole in the…

Jul 13, 2026
Article

Webb's Blog

This feed only contains articles from Webb's Blog which offers an insider's point of view covering a variety of topics. The feed below supports a deeper dive into Webb's Blog which contains early release science (not yet peer reviewed) as well as blogs on Webb Mission Operations and Webb Engineering posts - you can also filter Webb Science Blogs by Webb's four primary science themes.

Filters

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Webb Unravels Small Cosmic Details With Interferometry Observing Mode

One of the most recognizable features of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is its large, segmented, gold-coated mirror, which delivers…

Aug 4, 2026
Blog
NASA’s Webb Detects Methane on Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has collected its first mid-infrared chemical fingerprint of an interstellar object during a recent revisit…

Jun 1, 2026
Blog
How NASA’s Webb Helped Rule Out Asteroid’s Chance of 2032 Lunar Impact

Editor’s Note: This post highlights data from Webb science in progress, which has not yet been through the peer-review process.…

Mar 6, 2026
Blog
New NASA Asteroid Observations Eliminate Chance of 2032 Lunar Impact

Using data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observations collected on Feb. 18 and 26, experts from NASA’s Center for…

Mar 5, 2026
Blog
NASA’s Webb Space Telescope Observes Interstellar Comet

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS Aug. 6, with its Near-Infrared Spectrograph instrument. The research team has…

Aug 25, 2025
Blog
New Moon Discovered Orbiting Uranus Using NASA’s Webb Telescope

Editor’s Note: This post highlights data from Webb science in progress, which has not yet been through the peer-review process.…

Aug 19, 2025
Blog
NASA’s Webb Finds Possible ‘Direct Collapse’ Black Hole

Editor’s Note: This post highlights a combination of peer-reviewed results and data from Webb science in progress, which has not…

Jul 15, 2025
Blog
NASA’s Webb Observations Update Asteroid 2024 YR4’s Lunar Impact Odds

While asteroid 2024 YR4 is currently too distant to detect with telescopes from Earth, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope collected one…

Jun 5, 2025
Blog
How NASA’s Webb Telescope Supports Our Search for Life Beyond Earth

This artist’s concept shows what exoplanet K2-18 b could look like based on science data. K2-18 b, an exoplanet 8.6…

Apr 18, 2025
Blog
NASA’s Webb Finds Asteroid 2024 YR4 Is Building-Sized

Editor’s Note: This post highlights data from Webb science in progress, which has not yet been through the peer-review process. These…

Apr 2, 2025
Blog
NASA’s Webb Reveals the Ancient Surfaces of Trans-Neptunian Objects

Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are icy bodies ranging in size from Pluto and Eris (dwarf planets with diameters of about 1,500…

Feb 12, 2025
Blog
Monitoring Webb’s Mirrors for Optimal Optics

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is the largest and most powerful telescope ever launched to space. Its mirror is composed…

Nov 8, 2024
Blog


Latest 2026 Images

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NASA Webb Uncovers Unusual Galaxy Shaped by Cosmic Collision (MIRI)

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