The mission

The James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) is the next great space science observatory following Hubble, designed to answer outstanding questions about the Universe and to make breakthrough discoveries in all fields of astronomy. Webb will see farther into our origins: from the formation of stars and planets, to the birth of the first galaxies in the early Universe. Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and CSA. The telescope launched on an Ariane 5 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

The launch

Launch date: 25 December 2021
Launch location: Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana
Launch vehicle: Ariane 5
Orbit: Lagrange point 2, 1.5 million km from Earth

6.5 metres mirror

18 mirror segments

4 instruments

5 sunshield layers

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[ Webb ]

29 OCT. 2026

Ghostly Cat’s Head Nebula lurks within sight of Hubble and Webb

The NASA/ESA Hubble and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescopes recently stared at an eerie star-forming scene within the Carina Nebula, a massive gas and dust cloud located approximately 7500 light-years away from Earth. The two telescopes offer complementary views of the shadowy form, nicknamed the Cat’s Head Nebula, which reflects the 'magical' process of star formation. Hubble’s visible-light view shows the cat as a dark, elongated dust pillar and hints of young forming stars, while Webb’s infrared-light imagery unveils many stars and other hidden details.

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[ Webb ]

22 OCT. 2026

Stars brewing in a nebulous cauldron

In this Picture of the Month from the NASA/ESA James Webb Space Telescope, we visit a turbulent cauldron of star formation to see what is brewing inside dense clumps of gas. This is a star-forming region named LHA 120-N 159, or simply N159, located 161 000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), one of the satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way galaxy. This image spans about 230 light-years across.

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06 OCT. 2026

Webb captures commotion from nebula’s stellar jets

NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled numerous stars formerly hidden by clouds of dust in a stellar nursery known as NGC 7129 – a cauldron of cosmic creation, 3300 light-years from Earth.

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[ Webb ]

15 SEP. 2026

Webb reveals stunning panorama of star formation

This starry view of the nearby star-forming region IC 348 is one of the largest images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope released to the public so far. Using Webb, astronomers searched IC 348 for brown dwarfs, which are less massive than the smallest stars. The researchers discovered brown dwarfs just twice the mass of Jupiter, bringing the study of these curious objects into a new mass range.

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Featured videos

All Webb videos

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15 SEP. 2026

Webb reveals stunning panorama of star formation

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25 DEC. 2025

Fly through Webb’s cosmic vistas

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12 MAY. 2025

Close-up observations of auroras on Jupiter

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17 APR. 2025

Explore spiral galaxy M83 through Webb’s infrared eyes

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24 MAR. 2025

Flow through Cosmic Tornado Herbig-Haro 49/50

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20 JUN. 2024

Zoom into Webb’s view of the Serpens Nebula

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The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope reveals emerging stellar nurseries and individual stars in Carina Nebula that were previously obscured.The new images showcase how Webb’s cameras can peer through cosmic dust, shedding new light on how stars form. Objects in earliest, rapid phases of star formation difficult to capture, but Webb’s extreme sensitivity, spatial resolution, and imaging capability can chronicle these elusive events.

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[ Science ]

Webb reveals steamy atmosphere of distant planet in exquisite detail

Webb’s enormous mirror and precise instruments joined forces to capture the most detailed measurements of starlight filtering through the atmosphere of a planet outside our Solar System to date.The spectrum of light – which contains information about the makeup of a planetary atmosphere 1,150 light-years away – reveals the distinct signature of water. The strength of the signal that Webb detected hints at the significant role the telescope will play in the search for potentially habitable planets in the coming years. Webb’s powerful new view also shows evidence of haze and clouds that previous studies of this planet did not detect.

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[ Science ]

Webb sheds light on galaxy evolution, black holes

In this enormous new image, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope reveals never-before-seen details of the galaxy group “Stephan’s Quintet”.Close proximity of the system gives astronomers a ringside seat to galactic mergers and interactions. Webb’s new image also shows in rare detail how interacting galaxies trigger star formation in each other and how gas in galaxies is being disturbed and the outflows driven by a black hole in Stephan’s Quintet in a level of detail never seen before. Tight galaxy groups like this may have been more common in the early Universe when superheated, infalling material may have fueled very energetic black holes.

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[ Webb ]

[ Science ]

Webb delivers deepest image of Universe yet

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has delivered the deepest, sharpest infrared image of the distant Universe so far.Webb’s image is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length – and reveals thousands of galaxies in a tiny sliver of vast Universe. This sharp near-infrared view has brought out faint structures in extremely distant galaxies, for an unprecedented look at galaxies billions of years in the past. For the first time, Webb has also detailed chemical makeup of galaxies in very early Universe.

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Blogs and partner sites

ESA Webb community site

ESA Webb site for scientific community

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Webb blog

NASA/ESA/CSA blog

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Webb at NASA

Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA, and CSA

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Webb at CSA

Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA, and CSA

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Webb

The mission

The launch

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