NASA's newest, fanciest high-tech tool for observing deep space, the James Webb Space Telescope, is finally up and running, in orbit, sending images back to Earth, and we all get to see what's going on in outer space like never before. It's pretty awe-inspiring.
But when you're talking about a tool that leading minds spent over two decades planning and constructing, at a cost of about $10 billion, you have to wonder if it was money and time well spent. Well, when you compare the JWST's images with those taken by the Hubble — itself an incredible piece of engineering that advanced our knowledge of the universe by leaps and bounds — it all becomes clear. And then some.