Top 5 NASA James Webb Space Telescope breakthroughs that will blow your mind

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The space exploration enthusiasts around the world have been brimming with excitement ever since the moment the NASA James Webb Space Telescope was first launched in 2021. And after it was placed into its orbit and began peering into space, it did not disappoint. NASA's new eyes in space captured breathtaking images of celestial bodies both known and unknown. And just after half a year of hard work, it has shown us enough glances into space that will inspire years of research in astronomy. Read on to know about the top 5 JWST discoveries that shocked the world in 2022.

We all knew about the Pillars of Creation, the elephant trunks of interstellar gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula due to the Hubble Telescope. But when the James Webb Space Telescope captured an image of it through its infrared imaging, scientists were able to spot a high number of protostars. A protostar is a very young star that is still gathering mass from its parent molecular cloud and not yet burning hydrogen. This was a big revelation as the site was previously assumed to be a site for star birth but it could never be proven earlier.

Scientists have been able to take a few direct images of exoplanets throughout the decades, but it is an enormously difficult task. While stars illuminate, thus making capturing their image easy, exoplanets are normally seen as dip in the light of their star. However, NASA JWST was able to capture the direct image of a planet, HIP 65426 b, without a fuss. This is being considered a transformative moment as this can lead to us taking a look at more exoplanets in space.

The Webb telescope took a strange image of a star in July which was surrounded by a boxy ripple-like effect of concentric circles. This was a Wolf-Rayet star