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The JWST also focused NIRCam on distant Neptune. Six times further from the Sun than Jupiter, Neptune is not seen in so much detail but the results are similar. A series of bright patches in the planet’s southern hemisphere represent high-altitude methane-ice clouds, while a more subtle ring of brightness circling the planet’s equator could portray a kind of ‘jet-stream’, a circulating band of atmosphere that powers Neptune’s winds and storms.

One recent observational campaign that the JWST was well placed to assist with was the asteroid deflection test of Dimorphos. On 26 September, NASA’s DART spacecraft intentionally crashed headfirst into the small asteroid in order to test our ability to deflect an asteroid should one be found to be on a collision course with Earth.

This image was taken around four hours after the impact and shows the enormous dust cloud that was ejected from the collision. Analysing the amount of material that was blown into space by DART will allow theoreticians to understand more about the interior composition and structure of Dimorphos, and asteroids in general. This knowledge will be crucial when designing a mission to deflect an asteroid for real. In the months after the collision, the JWST has continued to observe Dimorphos in order to gain as much insight as possible.

And it is still early days. The images that have been released so far are more like proofs of concept rather than full scientific results. They represent a promise from the astronomers involved that the telescope is working, and that the analyses, results and breakthroughs will follow.

“It’s really fun and exciting at the moment. There’s something new in everything the JWST touches,” says Wright. “There’s something you look at and you go ‘wow!’”