The James Webb Space Telescope has turned its golden eye on the cosmos. The largest, most sensitive telescope put in space since the Hubble Space Telescope is already producing new photos of far-off galaxies and other cosmic phenomena.

In this episode: astronomers share their reactions to these stunning images, the project scientist on JWST describes how infrared cameras capture phenomena that are invisible to shorter wavelengths, and a plan to investigate the very stardust that created everything, including you and me.

Guests:

Néstor Espinoza – Assistant astronomer, Space Telescope Science Institute, principal investigator for exoplanet atmospheric physics, James Webb Space Telescope

Alyssa Pagan – Science Visuals Developer at the Space Telescope Science Institute

John Mather – Nobel Prize-winning NASA astronomer and Senior Project Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope

Alex Filippenko – Professor of Astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley

Originally aired August 8, 2022

Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake

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