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In July 2022, the first images

from the James Webb
Space Telescope were released,

to the joy of myself
and millions of astronomy fans

all around the world.

Oh, my gosh!

CROWD EXCLAIMS

Wow, look at that.

At the time, we were all blown away

by the stunning new images.

Their exquisite detail reminded us
of the beauty of the universe

in which we live.

But as well as the pretty pictures,

we've also been getting data
from the telescope's

various instruments, which have
continued working throughout,

flooding scientists with information
about planets, galaxies,

and so much more besides.

Now we're two years on -
and in that time,

scientists have been busy analysing
the data and putting out papers.

But has JWST been as exciting
and ground-breaking as we'd hoped?

And has it been plain sailing
for the telescope itself?

Well, tonight, we're looking
at the story so far of

the James Webb Space Telescope.

Welcome to The Sky At Night.

So today, I'm on the road,
retracing the steps of

a journey that Chris made
in the summer of 2022,

when we got the first release

of the data from the
James Webb Space Telescope.

Chris had hit the road
to meet up with researchers

around the country to find out
what they were hoping

this new space telescope
could reveal.

Since then, these scientists
and others have been working hard

to understand the information
that the JWST sent back.

And we're off to find out what
they've discovered.

But first, what has the JWST
story been so far?

Billions of years ago,
when the universe was young,

the first galaxies began
to shine brightly,

illuminated by some of
the earliest stars.

Their light has been travelling
through the cosmos ever since,

streaming unnoticed past the Earth
for all of human history.

Unnoticed, that is,
until two years ago,

when that ancient light encountered
a fragile golden mirror floating

in space a million miles from here,

It was brought to a focus in
some of the most delicate

and sophisticated instruments
ever launched -

and we can read its story
for the first time.

This is the miracle of JWST -

a telescope built to show us
the hidden places of the universe

and reveal unimagined wonders.

In the more than two years
since it launched,

the telescope has had
its problems, sure.

It's been hit more than
20 times by micrometeorites -

tiny particles of dust zipping
about the solar system.

And one of them's left a permanent
dent on one of those mirrors.

JWST's controllers now avoid
pointing in directions where

there are plenty of micrometeorites,

keeping the telescope safe.

Actually, we've learned about
the distribution of dust

in the solar system -
a scientific reward for placing

our telescope in such peril.

Otherwise, despite occasional
problems getting used

to using JWST's instruments,

our biggest problem has been
deciding where to point.

Astronomers around the world
have produced enough ideas

to keep seven or eight versions
of JWST busy.

And though it's easy to get
lost in the iconic images...

Oh, look, the Horsehead!

Orion! Merging galaxies!

..the telescope actually spends
about three quarters of its time

doing spectroscopy,

splitting up the light it receives
into its constituent wavelengths,

revealing what planetary
atmospheres are made of,

what's happening deep in
the heart of star-forming regions,

and finding out quite how far away
those oh-so-distant galaxies are.

Answer - very.

Together, JWST's three
instruments have shown us

a completely new view of Mars.

They've revealed rings around
a centaur asteroid in

the frozen outer solar system,

have given us a new view of
old clusters of stars in our galaxy,

and shown a spectacular star
formation in more distant systems.

Best of all, it gives us new views
of very familiar objects,

like this one of the Ring Nebula,

which shows mysterious spikes
pointing away from the centre,

a ring that's comprised of
20,000 separate clumps of gas,

each the mass of the Earth.

And the telescope has also revealed
a complex soup of carbon molecules -

unusual for a planetary nebula.

And this is just one object.

Imagine how much more
there is to see.

The truth is, we could fill every
episode of The Sky At Night

for the next 20 years with new data

and new images from this most
marvellous of observatories.

And, you know, we probably will.

So, that's what
the JWST has achieved.

But science can be more
complicated than that.

For every answer, it reveals
another exciting question.

I'm off to the
University of Bristol

to find out what Dr Hannah Wakeford
has discovered since

she met Chris two years ago.

Hannah, good to see you again.

Good to see you.

So, can you believe it was two years
since you last met up with Chris?

Not really, to be honest.
THEY CHUCKLE

It seems like yesterday
we were just getting data down

from the telescope.

Well, I wanted to play you the clip
just to remind you what happened.

So, you've been planning
these observations with colleagues

for a long while, I know.

How does it feel to finally have
data sitting on this computer?

Overwhelming.

I'm getting all teary -
every time I think about it,

I'm just like, "This is so amazing!"

You were truly so excited
to get the data.

I'm still so excited
to get the data!

Whenever I can get data,
I'm happy to get data.

I think that's the beauty
of being an observer - is just

we're always excited to
learn new things.

One planet that Hannah and her team
were excited to observe

with JWST was WASP-17b.

And what's interesting
about this exoplanet?

So, it is a giant planet.

It is about twice
the radius of Jupiter,

but only half of its mass.

So, it's very low density.

So, this is an artist's
impression that is now based on

the observations we got with JWST.

Oh, wow. So...

So, people take that data,

and then create what
they think it might look like?

So, we talk with the artists,
and we work with them to try

and describe what we're seeing.

Now, the data itself looks
something like this.

Ah, yeah - less artistic.

It's a little bit harder to sell,
let's say.

Data from the Hubble Space
Telescope had already revealed

tiny particles
in the planet's atmosphere.

But Hannah had hoped data from
JWST's mid-infrared instrument

could finally tell them what
these particles were made of.

With JWST, it's our only
opportunity to get these features

way out in the infrared

which tell us what that cloud
is actually composed of...

Yes. ..and in this case,
are silicon dioxide.

OK. So, if there were not these
clouds made of silicon dioxide

in the atmosphere, we would have
measured this yellow line.

OK.

The peak on the grey and pink lines,

compared to the yellow one,

show that light from WASP-17b's
local star had been absorbed

by a specific molecule
in the atmosphere.

Hannah was expecting it
to be magnesium silicate -

particles which make up
rocks and sand -

as seen on other exoplanets.

But that's not what they found.

So, what we actually found

was more of that kind of
pure quartz form.

And this is what quartz looks
like here on the Earth.

So, it's a solid, it's kind of
nice and glittery, and it's clear.

When you've got
magnesium silicates -

or iron silicates, in this case -

you get more of that
amethyst colour.

Yeah, so it's, like,
that's a contamination... Exactly.

..but it leads to that
beautiful colour.

What we actually think is happening

is we've got these beautiful
quartz crystals

that are being formed high
in the atmosphere.

And then, what we found was
that these are nanocrystals.

So, they're very,
very tiny particles,

about 100 times smaller than
the width of a human hair.

And that's what's really
interesting, is that tells us

that these are likely
the precursors, the first things

that are forming in the atmosphere.

This discovery, along with data
from hundreds of other exoplanets

that JWST has now studied,

is revealing some of the very
fundamentals of our universe.

These planets operate
as these individual little

laboratories for us. Oh, yes.

Because we can't create
these conditions on Earth.

This is a high-temperature,
low-pressure,

hydrogen-dominated environment.

Ooh - sounds flammable.

It's not fundable, for certain.
Yes!

It allows us to really take these,
you know, natural test tubes

to try and understand
what's going on.

How would this kind of material
change under different conditions?

And we've got hundreds of
exoplanets to look at,

to be able to see,
if we change those conditions,

what happens to our clouds?
I see - wow.

So, yeah, it's remote laboratories
where you can do these experiments,

and you get the data and can
compare. That's powerful.

And that is the beauty of
the thousands of exoplanets,

is that we've got enough of them
to start to really understand

the nature of chemistry and physics
that we think we understand here.

Hannah, thank you so much.

It's been fantastic, as always,

and I look forward to coming
back soon. Take care.

I would never have envisaged that
these other-worldly atmospheres

would reveal so much, when I worked
on the James Webb Space Telescope

over ten years ago.

And these atmospheres are revealing
detail that is unexpected -

crystalline structures.

But we're detecting this from
an atmosphere that is over

1,000 light years away from us.

This is the stuff that is
truly mind-boggling.

While Hannah has been looking
at the planets around distant stars,

it's the planets around our own star

that, two years ago, led me
to the University of Leicester,

just after some astonishing pictures
were hot off the press.

Just a few days ago,

this image of Jupiter was released.

And what I love about this image

is that it shows an old friend
in a new light,

with Jupiter's belts and
the Great Red Spot

glowing in infrared light.

Since then,
JWST has taken a closer look

at all four outer planets
in our solar system.

And George is off to find out

what they've revealed.

As an exoplaneteer,

I usually spend my time studying
planets orbiting distant stars.

So, it's kind of nice for
a change of pace to learn about

what's going on with the planets
in our own solar system.

I'm meeting Professor Leigh Fletcher

to find out how the last
two years have been for him.

Welcome to Leicester.

Thank you so much.
It's so good to be here!

So, first of all, I just want
to remind you of what you said

last time we were here.
OK, all right.

So, tell us about the other planets.
What will we see?

Uranus is coming up in August
and September.

Saturn is coming up in October.

And Neptune, we're going to have
an opportunity to do that

in 2023 - so about 12 months.

It is a tremendously exciting time.

And it's going to keep us
with sleepless nights

and heavy workloads, I think,
for at least five or six years.

You said "sleepless nights
and heavy workloads" -

has that become a reality?

Gosh, that feels like
a lifetime ago as well.

It's been a couple of years
now since we filmed that,

and, honestly, all of
our dreams came true.

We got all of the data sets
that we were planning

when Chris and I spoke... Amazing.

..and the data sets have
confounded us, confused us,

got us excited.

We're going to start with Jupiter.

So, I hear you've had
a few surprises -

pleasant ones, though.

Yeah, I think, you know, if you
think about the Jovian system,

you might ask the question
quite reasonably -

we've been there before,
we've sent missions there -

what else can JWST really tell you?

And even I was surprised when
we got some of these data back.

So, on the screen behind me

is one of JWST's fantastic
images of Jupiter. Mm.

And what we can do is, when you
look at Jupiter over several hours,

you can see all the cloud
features moving around.

We did it at a different
wavelength of light,

and one that you can only
really access with JWST.

And, lo and behold, out pops
a brand-new jet stream

that's gone hidden from Earth view

for the last four decades
of observations of this planet.

And it was just there waiting
for us in the data.

So, my colleagues published this
last year - and what this is,

is a very powerful stream of air

high above the Jovian equator

that is somehow linked to
the atmosphere high above.

And this is something
that was completely unexpected

when we first started
inspecting these data.

Seems we've learned a lot about
Jupiter's system. Mm-hm.

Have we learned anything new
and exciting about Saturn so far?

On the screen behind you
is the first image

we captured of Saturn.

The atmosphere looks fairly
bland there, but the rings

are absolutely resplendent
in these data. Stunning.

We saw that the rings are

astonishingly pure, crystalline
water ice

with just a tiny, tiny fraction

of things like organics peppering
the rings

to give them their glorious colours.

We saw that
the atmosphere of Saturn,

which is seasonal,
and we had a prediction that

the atmospheric flows on Saturn
would shift direction,

and those predictions were
borne out quite accurately.

While Jupiter and Saturn
are building a more detailed

picture of their systems,

it is the two most distant planets
that have Leigh and his colleagues

relooking at their models.

So, now what about our two
big enigmas, Uranus and Neptune?

So, you have to remember that

Uranus and Neptune have only had
a single fly-by mission,

the venerable Voyager 2,
back in the late 1980s.

And since then, we've been observing
with ground-based telescopes,

with the Hubble Space Telescope.

And we thought we were
starting to generate a decent

understanding of these worlds.

And, unfortunately, when
we started to apply our models

based on all that prior knowledge
to the new JWST data,

we started to realise
something wasn't adding up,

something was missing.

It was like making a cake and having
all of the ingredients for the cake,

but then, when you actually taste
the cake, there's something just

not quite right in the flavour.

And it's that missing ingredient
in our spectral models

that we're trying to pin down
at the moment.

But that's exciting, right?

Because it means that we are going
to learn something fundamentally new

about the chemical composition
of these two worlds that

we didn't expect to be even
asking about

when we first launched JWST.

Research continues on
Uranus and Neptune,

but this was to be expected.

Leigh did say there was about
six years' work to be done,

and we've come back after just two.

But it's still amazes me
just how much JWST is changing

our understanding of objects
around our own sun.

The solar system is our
home planetary system,

and we've been studying it with
telescopes for a while now and,

you know, staring at it
for thousands of years.

Is it surprising that there's
still so much more new stuff

to learn about it?

I think, whenever you have a
brand-new capability like JWST,

there's always going to be
something, some wavelength of light

that's going to deliver
something that surprises you.

And you're absolutely right,

the solar system has been
fabulously well studied,

but some of the questions
that we're trying to answer now,

like little pieces of
a jigsaw puzzle,

they add up to a much greater,
much more impactful

and deep understanding of this
wonderful solar system

that we're a part of.

Well, thank you
so much for having me.

It's been so great chatting to you.
Always a pleasure to have you.

Well, look forward to next time.
OK. Take care. Bye-bye.

While Maggie and George have been
catching up with scientists

we met two years ago,

I've headed to
the University of Cambridge's

Kavli Institute of Cosmology,

where a fetching set of 1:1 scale
replicas of JWST's mirrors

can be found.

Because light can travel through
the universe for millions,

or even billions of years,

our telescopes are time machines,
showing us the past.

And, with its 6.5-metre mirror,

JWST is allowing us
to peer back further

than we ever have before.

I'm meeting Dr Sandro Tacchella,

who studies these
very young galaxies

to find out what has been revealed.

Hey, how are you?

Hi, Chris, good to see you. Nice to
see you. Thanks for having us.

You're welcome.
Well, I'm excited by this.

What did we know about
the early universe before JWST?

What have we learned from all
of those years of pointing

at these things with
the Hubble Space Telescope?

Yes, so Hubble gave us really
already a very good overview of

what happened in the universe

through most of cosmic time,
which means that we are, you know,

looking at the universe of the age
at about two to three billion years.

That's pretty good.
That's pretty good indeed.

But the growth
at earlier cosmic time -

so that's in the
first billion years -

is actually the most active growth
and the most interesting growth,

in that sense, because that's
where the very first stars,

the very first black holes
and the very first galaxies

started to form and to assemble.

And it's this early universe,

when galaxies and stars
were first forming,

that JWST is showing us
for the first time.

Scientists around the world
are working together to build

a detailed map of the deep cosmos

as part of a project called JADES -

the JWST Advanced Deep
Extragalactic Survey.

Well, I think what we should do
is take a tour of some of the data.

So, you've got an interactive tool?
Sure, yes.

What you see here is a mosaic.

So, these are basically over,
you know, 400 images that

we have taken over
the last two years

with the James Webb Space Telescope.

And we have put them together.

You know, one of the
very interesting structures

is what we term the cosmic rose,

OK, and you might see why.

So, when I zoom in here,
you can see that this looks like,

you know, a rose-like structure.

And so, this system
is actually very distant,

formed about two billion years
after the Big Bang.

And what you see here
is not just a single galaxy,

but actually a whole group
of galaxies.

But JWST has been able to look back
at even younger galaxies.

So, are there other places
we should visit in this image?

So, this is one of
the deeper patches in the image.

And what I'll show you here
is a galaxy,

which seems to be kind of this
yellowish colour. Yeah.

And this is basically
the most distant galaxy

that is known to us.
That splodge there?

Yeah, that splodge here.

So, it's really probing, basically,
the earliest structures

we know in the universe.

This is the furthest back
in time we've ever seen,

showing us the very earliest
moments of our universe's story,

fewer than 300 million years
after the Big Bang.

So, when you look at this image,

there are lots of splodges
all over the place.

What made you look at
that one in particular?

We have been seeing this object
already in the very early data

we obtained nearly two years ago.

And I think the surprising thing was
that it's actually very bright.

And so, our initial
reaction was,

"Well, it cannot be that distant
because it's too bright."

And so, we took better data -

in particular,
we also took spectroscopy.

And we could clearly see that,
no, that galaxy,

this yellow blob here, is really
this most distant galaxy

that we have ever seen.

So, if this is the record-holder,

how common are galaxies like this?

Yes, so we don't know at the moment.

Er, it's really...

It's basically far off than
whatever we have seen before.

And so, in that sense,
this galaxy is very peculiar.

It's really bright.
It's a very early cosmic times.

And so, it's a really one-off
record-holder at the moment.

But it might be that,
because we have been biased in

the way of how we thought
about these early galaxies -

we were looking mostly
for very young systems,

quite small systems -

we might have seen those galaxies,
but we said, like, "Ah, no."

So we have to go back and look
more carefully at those.

So, maybe they are more
common than we thought.

Finding this particular galaxy
may have been a surprise,

but it's just one of many
that JWST is detecting

from the very early universe.

And the picture the telescope
is giving us is of a young universe

full of galaxies growing quicker,

and forming stars faster,
than had been expected.

How much has this early
universe surprised you,

like, compared to what you
thought you were going to get

a couple of years ago?

It was really, erm,
surprising in the sense of

how much excitement it triggered
also in the general public.

So, I think, you know,
it was beyond just like, you know,

me looking at the screen and
being astonished by

these beautiful images.

For me personally, I think I was
surprised to see of how much -

how good the telescope works.

It's really works amazingly well.

And, you know, like,
the images are beautiful,

but we can take spectra and really
learn about these, you know,

systems in really great detail
that I didn't expect to, you know...

..only maybe dream about.

Well, thank you very much.
It's fascinating stuff.

Thank you very much, Chris.

While the scientists we've
been meeting this month

have their heads down working on
the data that JWST is supplying,

Pete is in Bedford,
looking up to the skies.

The pictures taken by JWST
over the last couple of years

have been nothing short
of mind-blowing.

And although we can't get
the same level of detail

a million miles away here on Earth,

we can find the objects
in those iconic JWST images.

While what we can get from
our back gardens may not compare,

the planets are slowly
moving out of the sun's glare

and will become spectacular
at the end of this month.

In particular, an early-morning view

low over the east-northeast horizon

before sunrise

will reveal bright Jupiter,

brightening Mars,

and binocular-dim Uranus

against the wonderful

stars of Taurus.

At the end of July,

the waning crescent moon moves

through this region too,

presenting a lovely scene

just asking to be photographed.

Saturn is further to
the west of this group,

with dim Neptune in tow
just to the east of it,

Saturn will be reaching
its highest position in the sky

due south under relatively dark
conditions during August -

this being the best time to get
a steady view of the planet.

One of the most popular images
taken by the Hubble Space Telescope

was that of the Pillars of Creation.

JWST took that iconic image

to another level.

While you may not be able
to see the Pillars themselves

unless you have a large telescope,

you can see the nebula
in which they're located -

that's the Eagle Nebula.

Now, this is best seen in
the summer months,

when it's at its highest position
above the southern horizon,

under dark conditions.

The Eagle Nebula can be found

by first identifying Altair,

the southernmost star

in the Summer Triangle asterism.

This is the brightest star
in Aquila - the Eagle.

Locate Delta Aquilae in the centre
below and right of Altair.

Extend the line from Altair

through Delta for three times

that distance again,

passing through the diamond-shaped
constellation of Scutum -

the Shield - as you go,

after which you will find
the Eagle Nebula -

known as M16.

Through small and
medium-sized telescopes,

the Eagle Nebula appears
as a cluster of stars,

the faint nebula gas
being hard to see.

Long-exposure photography
or a large scope

are needed to reveal it properly.

While you're in the region,

look slightly south of
the Eagle Nebula

to see the Swan Nebula - M17.

This is much easier to see.

It's wonderful to think that
with amateur telescopes

or even just your eyes,

you can see the same objects

as the most powerful telescope
sent into space.

Sure, we can't see
the same level of detail,

but it's nice to be reminded that,

as we send telescopes deeper
and deeper into space,

we're all looking at
the same universe.

As ever, if you get some images,

do share them on
The Sky At Night Flickr,

and we'll pick some of
our favourites

and show them next month.

Further details can be found at...

In the meantime, here are some of
our favourites from last month.

JWST can do so much with
a single image.

It can astound, amaze
and surprise us.

And so we thought, before we go,

we'd show you a few of
our favourite images.

This is mine.

It's the Cigar Galaxy - M82.

What you can see is a powerful wind
sweeping away from the galaxy,

driven by the star formation

that's happening
at the galaxy's heart.

This is my favourite JWST image.

It shows you the Goods-North region.

It has been imaged with JWST
in nine different filters,

and what you can see here are
about 50,000 different galaxies.

But there is one particular galaxy
that is highlighted.

This is GN-z11,

this is the most distant galaxy
with a known black hole.

So, this is my favourite
JWST picture.

It is actually a spectrum

which includes the JWST information

from the clouds in
the atmosphere of WASP-17b,

and the information that
we had previously from

the Hubble Space Telescope.

So, this is my favourite JWST image.

And it is, believe it or not,

the Horsehead Nebula.

It's looking over the very top
of the horse's head,

which has been an object
very iconic to me,

as I've been growing up
with astronomy.

So, this image is blowing
my mind because,

as JWST is looking over the top
of the Horsehead into deep space,

what can it see?

Galaxies.

It's an incredible image.

This is my favourite picture.

This is an image of HIP 6546 b.

Now, actual images
of exoplanets are a rarity,

because direct imaging is so hard.

But this was JWST's first
attempt at direct imaging -

and we got this stunning picture
in four different colours,

which is marvellous.

So, I think my favourite image
from JWST so far has been

this image of the ice giant Uranus.

I was so looking forward to seeing
what Uranus and Neptune would

look like through
this fabulous new facility.

So, when these images came out,

I almost had tears in my eyes.

This is a destination
that humanity now needs to send

its next robotic explorer to.

And here, James Webb has captured
it in all of its glory.

One of my favourite pictures
taken by Webb so far is this one,

and it's because of a few
different aspects.

Firstly, I love
the beautiful images,

but this is raw data.

Secondly, it was taken by NIRSpec,

which is one of the instruments
that I worked on.

And thirdly, this is showing
one of the earliest galaxies

that ever existed in the universe.

The fact that we can build
an instrument that goes up in space

and tells us this level of detail

is still quite mind-boggling to me.

If this is what JWST
has achieved in just two years,

its potential over the next 10,
or even 20, must be enormous.

I can't wait to find out
what it's going to tell us.

In the meantime, we're filming
our annual Question Time show

in a few months.

So, if you have a question
for this year's expert panel,

go to our website right now
to find out how to submit it.

Until next time, goodnight.