Tarantula NebulaNASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Webb ERO Production Team
The Tarantula Nebula: Only 161,000 light years from Earth, this is a place where thousands of stars were born

The $10 billion was given to the world. There is a machine that shows us where we are in the universe.

Exactly a year ago, on Christmas Day, the space telescope was launched. It had taken a long time to plan and build.

Is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope able to live up to expectations?

It took us a few months to unpack and focus the 6.5m primary mirror.

Everything they said it would be was true. The first colour images were released by the space agencies in July. You may have missed some of the pictures that were published later.

You may not be able to see this visualization on your device.

The first thing you have to remember is that it's an IR telescope. Our eyes can only see what our eyes can see.

These great towers of gas and dust are explored by the different cameras of the astronomer. Hubble liked the Pillars. It would take a long time to travel at the speed of light.

The scene is called the Cosmic cliffs. It's the edge of a large, gaseous area within a dusty star forming nebula.

The wind from hot, young stars just out of shot has sculpted the cavity.

There is a distance from one side of the picture to the other. A light year is equal to almost 9 trillion km.

NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Webb ERO Production Team

The large galaxy to the right was discovered in the 1940's. It was the result of a head-on collision. Fourteen5,000 light years is the diameter.

James is not only looking into the deep Universe. Our own solar system is also being probed. The eighth planet from the Sun is Neptune. The big "pointed star" above is surrounded by white dots that are moons. Neptune's largest satellite is that one. The mirror system is how the spikes are made.

NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI-PDRs4All ERS Team

One of the most well-known regions of the sky is the area known as "Orion". The region is 1,350 light years away from Earth. There is a wall of dense gas and dust in this picture.

NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/C.Thomas/I.Wong

One of the big space stories of the year was Nasa's attempt to dodge an asteroid called Dimorphos. A test of a strategy to protect the Earth from asteroids. There was a shower of debris kicked up.

NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/JPL-Caltech

One of the most interesting images of the year was this one. The name refers to Wolf- Rayet. A big star is reaching the end of its life. Huge winds blow into space. The winds are being compressed by a companion star in this picture. The shells are over 10 trillion km long. The distance between Earth and our Sun is 70%.

The PhantomGalaxy is known for its spiral arms. It's about 32 million light years away from Earth and is almost face-on to us, giving the perfect view of the arms and their structure. The telescope's detectors are able to pick out all the fine particles of gas and dust.

Artwork of James Webb in space: The telescope should give 20 years' good service

You can still listen to Jonathan's Discovery programme, in which he talks with the scientists and engineers behind the project.

If there's one story to read about the science that has been done over the last year, it's this one.

  • Astronomy
  • James Webb Space Telescope