Images from James Webb Space Telescope will inspire generations of students, MIT professor says

BOSTON -- NASA is releasing new pictures taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. Scientists say they are giving us our deepest view of the universe ever. 

The release of photos on Tuesday was a highly anticipated moment that's been two decades in the making. 

"I'm really excited, I'm really relieved to be entering a whole new era of astronomy," said MIT Professor Julien de Wit. 

"It's groundbreaking. It's like going from listening to the radio to suddenly being able to watch television." 

A sneak peek of the photos was shared by the White House on Monday. The deep-field image is filled with lots of stars and never before seen galaxies. 

"That light that you are seeing on one of those little specs has been traveling for over 13 billion years...we know the universe is 13.8 billion years old we're going back almost to the beginning," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

The $10 billion telescope is stationed about one million miles from Earth. It could help answer some big questions about space. 

Professor de Wit said the data will help scientists better understand how stars, planets, galaxies, and black holes are formed. 

"Further down the road...we may be able to see if planets are habitable, if some of these planets have signs of life one way or the other. That's so many things we're going to discover thanks to it," said de Wit. 

He hopes the data and images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope will inspire generations of students.