The media this past week were ablaze at the captivating photos being sent back for our view – and scientific scrutiny – by the recently launched James Web Space Telescope, now in a one-year, million-mile orbit around the sun. The objective of the mission is to reach back as far as possible, perhaps to the Big Bang some 14.3 billion years ago. These views are the first we’ve seen capturing when and how galaxies actually formed in the early days of our universe. It heralds, along with space exploration itself, the dawning of an extraordinary new era in our burgeoning Space Age.
Originally posted for the Orlando Sentinel’s Central Florida 100.
Photo: NASA/Getty Images