Why it matters: Carbon is one of the primary building blocks of life as we know it. Therefore, the detection of carbon signs on celestial bodies other than Earth is always a significant discovery. Thanks to JWST's powerful instruments, scientists now have evidence that carbon should be abundant on one of the most promising targets for extraterrestrial life research.
In context: Supermassive black holes are among the most extreme phenomena that humans have discovered in outer space. They possess a mass hundreds of thousands, or even millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun, and they are responsible for powering unprecedented luminous events known as quasars.
Forward-looking: The US space agency will soon send a new, experimental laser communication technology into space that is expected to show potential data transmission rates that are 10 to 100 times the speed of current state-of-the-art radio systems. The device is installed aboard the Psyche spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch no earlier than October 5, 2023.
In context: Since its launch a little over a year and a half ago, the James Webb Space Telescope has given astronomers, scientists, and the public unprecedented views of the distant universe. As NASA's largest and most powerful telescope, JWTS can scan further than we have ever seen, sparking brand-new discoveries. But what is Batman's Riddler doing out there?