The insanely powerful James Webb Space Telescope will look back through the distant parts of the universe, helping astronomers study its secrets.
The James Webb Space Telescope, the world’s most powerful space telescope, is set to begin its science operations in summer 2022, and one of the topics that astronomers are most excited to study is the very early stages of the universe. One of the incredible things about astronomy is that it is possible to effectively look back in time. Because it takes time for light to travel to us, when we observe very distant objects like galaxies, we are seeing them as they were when the light from them set out. The further away we look, the earlier we see these objects. As Webb is extremely powerful, it will be able to see very distant objects, meaning it can look back to certain periods which are close to the big bang that happened 13.8 billion years ago (via Webb Telescope).
