Well, even though it cost over $10 billion, and continues to fight a simple renaming ceremony, this next gen space ‘scope is… clearly exceeding all expectations. We are awash… in data, night by… glorious night, now.

We may be almost equally likely now, to see trace signatures of bio-chemical activity — from the new ‘scope’s data, some thousands of light-years off, in deep space — as we are to see it right on our relative front porch, the surface of nearby Mars (as I said yesterday).

In any event, here is the latest, from Sky & Telecope:

…[The next-gen ‘scope] zoomed in on the Orion Nebula this week, sharing with us a clearer picture of the giant stellar nursery.

Even at 1,350 light-years away, the nursery is visible to our unaided eyes as a pale smear beneath the three-starred belt of Orion. It has been the target of many an amateur astronomer / astrophotographer, as well as the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. But [the new ‘scope] has provided the clearest and most unique picture to date, its Near-Infrared Camera peering through the dust that enshrouds the infant stars….

The brightest star within the image is θ² Orionis A near the center. (If you’re viewing it from the ground instead of with a powerful space telescope, then it’s a binocular target — though you might see it unaided if you’re under dark skies)….

Smiling… ever smiling, as I peer backward exactly one decade, tonight — into the wonders of the evening skies of… then. Grin.

नमस्ते