NASA’s Cosmic Cherry Blossom Festival

Join the James Webb Space Telescope for NASA’s Spring “Sakura to Supernova” Festival this lightyear.

“A prominent, eight-pointed star shines in bright white at the center of this image. A clumpy cloud of material surrounds this central star, with more material above and below than on the sides, in some places allowing background stars to peek through. The cloud material is a dark yellow closer to the star, and turns a pinkish purple at its outer edges. Combined together, the central star and its cloud resemble the delicate petals of a cherry blossom. The black background features many smaller white stars scattered throughout. This image combines various filters from both Webb imaging instruments, with the color red assigned to wavelengths of 4.44, 4.7, 12.8, and 18 microns (F444W, F470N, F1280W, F1800W), green to 2.1, 3.35, and 11.3 microns (F210M, F335M, F1130W), and blue to 0.9, 1.5, and 7.7 microns (F090W, F150W, F770W).” (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team)

Before the 20th century, scientists believed that the Milky Way galaxy, which is the galaxy that contains our Solar System, was the entire universe. It wasn’t until the 1920s that astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered that there were other galaxies beyond the Milky Way, which led to the realization that the universe was much larger than previously thought.

Since then, advances in technology and observational techniques have allowed scientists to probe deeper into space and to observe more distant galaxies and objects. These observations have revealed that the universe is not only much larger than previously thought, but also more complex and diverse.

In addition to discovering the vastness of the universe, scientists have also learned that the universe is expanding and that the rate of expansion is accelerating. This discovery was made in the late 1990s and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011. This finding has led to new questions about the nature of the universe, including the nature of dark matter and dark energy, which are thought to make up a significant portion of the universe but are not directly observable.

Thanks to NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, humankind is suddenly able to see…