New Space Images Lend Incredible Glimpses into Endless Universe

By: Yaker Biegeleisen 

On Tuesday, July 12, NASA released the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope. 

These spectacular images have afforded scientists and regular folk a renewed appreciation for the vast universe of galaxies that exists in space.  

Produced at a cost of $10 billion, the Webb Telescope was sent into outer space one year ago, and now the images are finally available. 

The release of these images, and the expectation of many more to come, have been coined by some observers as “the dawn of a new era of astronomy.” It is simply that big of a game changer. 

Using infrared technology, the Webb Telescope is affording us a far longer range of view, and the ability to see things that were previously too small to be picked up by a telescope at all.  

The images give glimpses of millions of stars in various colors and sizes, and views of faraway systems and galaxies that have moved further and further away over the centuries. 

The primary images include: the “Carina Nebula,” “Stephan’s Quintet,” the “Southern Ring Nebula,” and the galaxy cluster known as “SMACS 0723.”  

The most incredible aspect of this entire story is that the slice of the vast universe being covered here is of a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground! 

For us, who daven every day about the praise of the stars and galaxies, this development brings this reality a bit closer to home, giving us a renewed appreciation for Hashem’s vast creation.  

Yaker Biegeleisen is Boropark24 and Rockland Daily’s weather and nature reporter