NASA GIF shows extraordinary power of the Webb telescope

Now, we can see the unseeable.

The Hubble Space Telescope snapped a picture of the Carina Nebula, a region of dust and gas where new stars are born some 7,500 light-years from Earth. The comparison shows how the telescope can see through hazes.

When you can peer through the dust, you can see more stars.

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The image shows a lot of new stars and rich detail of the region's clouds.

The ability to peer into the universe owes a lot to how it sees it. Unlike Hubble, which mostly views light that's visible to us, we can feel the heat from the light in the IR spectrum. The instrument can see much more of the universe. The long wavelength of IR makes it easier for the light waves to slip through the clouds. Hubble's eyesight can't penetrate places that are not visible to the naked eye.

The director of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee's planetarium said that it lifted the veil.

The telescope has begun its science mission. The observatory is expected to reveal some of the earliest galaxies ever created, as well as provide insight into the alien atmospheres of distant planets.

In this story, you can see the first images of the telescope.