<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">It was the $10bn gift to the world. A machine that would show us our place in the Universe.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The James Webb Space Telescope was launched exactly a year ago, on Christmas Day. It had taken three decades to plan, design and build.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Many wondered whether this successor to the famed Hubble Space Telescope could actually live up to expectations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We had to wait a few months while its epic 6.5m primary mirror was unpacked and focused, and its other systems tested and calibrated.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But, yes, it was everything they said it would be. The American, European and Canadian space agencies held a party in July to release the first colour images. What you see on this page are some of the pictures subsequently published that you may have missed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The first thing you have to remember about James Webb is that it is an infrared telescope. It sees the sky at wavelengths of light that are beyond what our eyes are able to discern.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Astronomers use its different cameras to explore regions of the cosmos, such as these great towers of gas and dust. The Pillars were a favourite target of Hubble. It would take you several years travelling at the speed of light to traverse this entire scene.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They call this scene the Cosmic Cliffs. It's the edge of a gigantic, gaseous cavity within another dusty, star-forming nebula, known as Carina.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The cavity has been sculpted by the intense ultraviolet radiation and winds from hot, young stars just out of shot.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">From one side of this image to the other is a distance of roughly 15 light years. One light year is equal to about 9.46 trillion km (5.88 trillion miles). BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>