The 1st exoplanet was found just a few decades ago; now we know they are the rule, not the exception. Celebrate the 6000th confirmed exoplanet, with @NASAJPL's Dr. Eric Mamajek and the Small Steps, Giant Leaps podcast. https://go.nasa.gov/3W1vQPj https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G1eLCs7WcAEoWCG.jpg

Are we alone in the universe? With Webb’s unprecedented infrared sensitivity, we can detect exoplanet atmospheres and study their chemical compositions in an attempt to answer that question. But what would it take to be able to say that we found life? We asked a NASA scientist.

Webb is solving mysteries it created. Remember “little red dots?” They seemed too big to exist in the early universe... and maybe theory couldn’t account for them. It turns out they may be a new class of galaxy containing growing supermassive black holes. https://t.co/OXo6TzNgus https://t.co/Y

Like images of broken light, Webb captured these carbon-rich dust shells around a binary star system. Drifting swiftly outwards, they are seeding their surroundings with carbon - one way elements spread across the universe. https://t.co/gjfLhdaP1x https://t.co/rbFjcpKjgm

A riddle wrapped in a 20-year-old @nasahubble mystery… Webb confirmed a controversial finding of Hubble’s - planet-forming disks in the early universe that are longer-lived than they should be, given the conditions in their environment. Read more: https://t.co/NVsUmuHmlf https://t.co/PYms9yaWEX

It's that time of year, let's make some snowflakes! ❄️ Fold and cut your own using our Webb template: https://t.co/ET8aN3vBO8 https://t.co/gJcUNdccKF

Someone struck a match against the night… Webb discerned distinct star clusters in the Firefly Sparkle galaxy, which existed 600 million years after the big bang - the first discovery of an actively forming galaxy as lightweight as the young Milky Way. https://t.co/cJenCOWLsc https://t.co/BWCarE

Webb and the Spiderweb protocluster? Let’s get stuck in! 👇 What is it? A galaxy cluster in formation, 10 billion light years away, composed of more than 100 known galaxies. Webb has found some new ones! https://t.co/LA0d0hVw3t https://t.co/gan8TOrP3Y

Pardon our dust! Webb’s near and mid-infrared view of spiral galaxy NGC 2090 highlights its two winding arms as well as the beautiful details of its swirls of dust and gas. https://t.co/5GHzbWezoX https://t.co/KNzLUvjmbk

Ring around the galaxy… Here’s Webb’s stunning new mid-infrared image of M104. This bright core of the galaxy is dim in this view, revealing a smooth inner disk as well as details of how the clumpy gas in the outer ring is distributed. https://t.co/wQSE9xGTXX https://t.co/p7zNl4YSwD

Webb has its eye on Titan, a moon of Saturn, a place where methane and ethane make up its liquid rivers and seas. Learn more about future Titan studies in Other Worlds Episode 3. NASA+: https://t.co/HDn825EwWE Youtube: https://t.co/CzJyKV0ZFA

Take a deep dive into how our optics team keeps Webb’s mirrors in top performance shape, enabling it to continue seeing the universe in unprecedented detail. (Hint: by making small adjustments to the mirror segments as shown here.) https://t.co/d2HrQRA4Ct https://t.co/md5DPKibHI

It’s giving rainbows and unicorns, like a middle school binder 🦄🌈 Meet NGC 602, a young star cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud, where astronomers using @NASAWebb have found candidates for the first brown dwarfs outside of our galaxy. https://t.co/jdupXcWiAH https://t.co/v4FBxAzulj

Shopping for pumpkins this weekend? Consider carving your own James Webb Space Pumpkin! We have five Webb-related designs, with differing degrees of difficulty. If you make a Webb-related pumpkin, be sure to tag us so we can share! https://t.co/VYvv5bJgXh https://t.co/tL5Yd839Vm

Congrats to the whole @EuropaClipper team on a successful launch! We'll wave as you fly by on the way out to your planetary front row seat. We're so happy and not at all jealous 😜

Imagine a sky full of hundreds of stars as bright as the full moon… If our solar system were a part of this “super star” cluster, that is what we might experience. Here is Webb’s look at Westerlund 1, one of the closest clusters of its kind. https://t.co/LyphCSpnwh https://t.co/kGFdvo2MLV

Chris Gunn's photography on Webb was stellar! ✨ Check out some of our fav Chris Gunn photos of Webb's journey to space here: https://t.co/8h4g2ydjWE

Centaurs are objects in orbital flux: small and icy, pushed inward of Neptune by its gravity, not quite comets...yet. Webb mapped gases spewing from Centaur 29P in high detail, providing new insights into the formation and evolution of the solar system. https://t.co/iQovSOJLkp https://t.co/96nOOlnp8

A New H0pe? Scientists are using Webb to measure the expansion of the universe, by pointing it at a gravitationally lensed supernova, SN H0pe. The light from this exploding star has been bent and magnified by a galaxy cluster between it and us. https://t.co/QGLdzBmeDY https://t.co/Nbd3OdhOmU

Also, within those 1000 days, we launched Webb, commissioned it, and saw it safely to its home at the second Lagrange point! 🚀

Today is Webb’s 1000th day in space! 🎉 Our #UnfoldTheUniverse "Lifer" checklist: A spacecraft impacting an asteroid Unexpected dust (supernova remnants and early galaxies) Exoplanets atmospheres Early black holes The farthest galaxy (so far!) What's your fav discovery?

Other observatories have captured this galaxy pair. Left: a visible-light beauty shot by @NASAHubble. Right: Infrared Spitzer showcases the difference in ages of the stars in these galaxies. Older stars are in blue (3.6 microns) and clumps of young stars in pink (8 microns).

Webb’s mid-infrared observations show star-forming regions and dust, as well as the large spiral galaxy’s bright nucleus. Near-infrared data (this image) highlights the stars within the colliding galaxies, as well as the translucent bridge of stars being pulled from them both.

On Wednesdays we wear pink. 💖 Arp 107, an interacting galaxy pair, was captured by Webb in both the near and mid-infrared, the latter represented in pinkish hues. What does each infrared wavelength tell us? ⬇️ https://go.nasa.gov/3Ba9293

Astronomers call this region the “Extreme Outer Galaxy” with Digel Clouds 1 and 2 located 58,000 light years away from the Galactic Center. Webb observations now allow scientists to study star formation out there with the same level of detail as within our own solar neighborhood.

Here’s Webb’s look at the Digel Clouds, an outpost of star-formation located in the Milky Way’s “outer rim.” ✨ Webb’s sharp infrared eye captured activity within star clusters in these molecular clouds in unprecedented detail: https://go.nasa.gov/4e2z5NS

@NASAHubble Gravitational lensing allows astronomers to pinpoint specific regions of star formation in these distant galaxies. Active star formation, and the face-on galaxy’s remarkably intact spiral shape, indicate that these galaxies’ interaction with each other is just beginning.

@NASAHubble has observed the spiral, but only Webb has seen the dusty red galaxy. Dust traps shorter wavelengths but allows infrared light to pass. The dot of the question mark is an unrelated galaxy that happens to be in the right place and space-time, from our perspective.

? 🤔 Thanks to a cosmic magnifying glass effect, the gravity of a massive galaxy cluster is warping two distant interacting galaxies (a face-on spiral and a dusty red galaxy) behind it, making them appear multiple times, tracing a familiar shape. https://go.nasa.gov/3XbDE16

Here is @NASAHubble’s 33rd anniversary view from 2023. Most of the firestorm of star birth is hidden behind clouds of fine dust at visible wavelengths. .https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-celebrates-33rd-anniversary-with-a-peek-into-nearby-star-forming-region/

A stellar view! This is NGC 1333, a nearby star-forming region. Webb’s sharp infrared vision lets us peer through the dusty veil to reveal newborn stars, brown dwarfs, and planetary mass objects. Read more: https://esawebb.org/images/potm2408a/

Initially the extra light made it appear that the galaxies in question contained many more stars, and were more massive than we would estimate. When these outlier galaxies were removed from the data analysis, the remaining galaxies fit the model predictions. Crisis averted!

When the supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies rapidly consume the gas that orbits them, friction in the fast-moving gas emits light and heat. As a result the galaxies look much brighter than if the light were just emanating from stars alone.

Did Webb’s look at early galaxies really break cosmology? (Spoiler: nope!) Their unexpected brightness isn't due to a problematic amount of star formation. Much of their light likely comes from hot disks of matter around their central black holes. https://go.nasa.gov/3YV35GP

#SXSW2025 panel voting is open! Beautiful Webb imagery, signed, sealed, and delivered from NASA to you! 💌 Vote: https://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/150050 #SXSW panel name: “NASA's Love Letter: Stunning Webb Images & More”

This spiral galaxy has a secret - two extra arms (shown here in green) composed of hot gas, rather than stars. Analogous to a wave crashing up against a rock before reaching the shore, they were likely created as a result of the violent churning of gas around the black hole.

Won’t you be our cosmic neighbor, M106? This galaxy with a very active black hole, is one of the brightest and nearest spirals to ours. Its central region is lit up by its black hole gobbling up dust and gas, which heats up, creating powerful radiation. https://esawebb.org/images/potm2407a/

No rings or medals, but there are mountains, beaches, and rain forests @OlympicNP! The Webb team had a great weekend exhibiting, giving talks, and unfolding the universe under the stars in the Pacific Northwest.

Bullseye 🎯 Wolf-Rayet 140 may look a bit familiar to #Olympics archers & sharpshooters. This Webb target is composed of at least 17 concentric dust rings, emanating from a pair of stars located just over 5,000 light-years from Earth. Learn more: https://go.nasa.gov/4c8iA18

Learn more about Webb's fresh view of the Horsehead Nebula's "mane," seen in unprecedented detail: http://go.nasa.gov/3Uy7wEW

his job is pommel horse. our job is space horse 🐴

Stellar form, Cartwheel Galaxy. 🤸 Just as there are #Olympics rings, there are 2 rings that make up this galaxy. Note a bright, inner ring and a surrounding, colorful ring, both expanding outwards from the center of an ancient galactic collision: https://go.nasa.gov/3LMT9aG

#DYK that our Milky Way may have started out looking like a “surfboard”? Webb found that the most common galaxies in the early universe may have been elongated, like “pool noodles” & “surfboards": https://go.nasa.gov/46xSO55 We're wishing all #Olympics surfers the best of luck! 🌊

Want to apply for to be a NASA intern? Make sure to follow @NASAInterns for tips and upcoming deadlines. Learn more at http://intern.nasa.gov.

Unfolding the universe takes a stellar team! 💫 This #NationalInternDay, meet Webb video production intern Karly Noetzel. Her advice for prospective NASA interns: “Show people what you’re passionate about. Your excitement is contagious, and doors open when you share your joy.”

With an estimated temperature of 35 degrees F (2 degrees C), Epsilon Indi Ab is just a bit warmer than the gas giants in our own solar system. With its unique properties, this intriguing world is giving astronomers a rare opportunity to study a true solar system analog.

Previously, directly imaged exoplanets were often the youngest, hottest worlds. As planets cool, they become significantly fainter and more difficult to image. Most of their emission is in mid-infrared light. Luckily, Webb is ideally suited to conduct mid-infrared imaging.

Need to beat the heat? Webb has snapped a direct image of Epsilon Indi Ab: the coldest and most Jupiter-like exoplanet to be imaged so far. To make the discovery, Webb blocked out starlight (shown by the star symbol) with a mask called a coronagraph: https://go.nasa.gov/3SmQzvE

@chandraxray To celebrate its accomplishments, the Chandra team has released 25 never-seen-before views of the cosmos. Each of the images in this thread contain data from both Chandra and Webb. Find the full set of images here: https://go.nasa.gov/4f8ET9H

Happy 25th anniversary, @chandraxray! In the past quarter century, Chandra has revolutionized our understanding of X-ray astronomy. Since the start of Webb science operations in 2022, the two telescopes have worked in tandem to combine infrared and X-ray wavelengths.