Scientists want to use Webb to see the beginning of the universe. How is that possible?
On July 12, the James Webb Space Telescope made history by releasing its debut image: a jewel-filled photo that's been touted as the deepest photo of the universe ever taken.
"Telescopes can be time machines. Looking out in space is like looking back in time," NASA scientists explained on WebbTelescope.org."It sounds magical, but it's actually very simple: Light needs time to travel across the vast distances of space to reach us." Take the sun, for example. Earth's home star sits an average of 93 million miles away. That means it takes light about 8 minutes, 20 seconds to travel from the sun to Earth. So, when you look at the sun , you're seeing it as it appeared more than 8 minutes ago, not as it appears right now — in other words, you're looking 8 minutes into the past.
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