One year since the breathtaking images mesmerised us, it is time to ask:. Is the telescope delivering on its promises to transform our knowledge of cosmology? Is it worth the hefty price tag of $10 billion?
The James Webb Space Telescope, launched into space in December 2021, has already started peering as a matter of priority at the most tantalising candidates for life elsewhere in the universe – seven rocky, Earth-sized planets orbiting about an ultra-cool red dwarf star known as TRAPPIST-1.