Ever since NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope was launched, it’s been revealing more about the universe than even most astronomers expected. Some of the data JWST has sent back to Earth have been awe-inspiring, but some of it has been downright confusing or challenging to dominant theories in cosmology.

Astronomers compile a large sample of an unusual class of objects in an effort to connect the dots to the early universe. Shortly after NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope began its science operations,

How do images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) appear so colorful, and where do the colors come from?

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured highly detailed images showing the complex layers of interstellar dust and gas.

Though space is chock-full of interstellar medium, it tends to be invisible unless lit up by a celestial spotlight. Sometimes, scientists get lucky: In 2012, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope grabbed an image of lacy interstellar medium illuminated by Zeta Ophiuchi,

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captured detailed images of the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant, revealing wood grain-like patterns in interstellar d

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted one of the earliest and most distant supernovas, marking the death of a stellar monster 20 times the mass of the sun.

The shells of carbon-rich dust are expanding outward into space at the breakneck velocity of 1,600 miles per second.