All the Angles We Tried for Our James Webb Space Telescope Article Before We Decided that Space Itself Is Cool Enough

Thank you, NASA.

Star birth in the Carina NebulaNASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

NASA has released the first photos from the James Webb Space Telescope, and they’re really fucking cool.

I, personally, will take any excuse to divert my attention away from the shitstorm we’ve created for ourselves here on Earth. But my coworkers and I spent a while trying to figure out how best to sell the photos to our readers. Here’s a sampling:

“We Finally Have the New Webb Photos of Space. They’re Kinda Disappointing.”
Meh.
—Jeremy Schulman

“Finally, A Reason to Go On Living.”
I want to meet the aliens.
Abigail Weinberg

“I Hate This World. Eject Me to Space.”
—Inae Oh

“It’s Just Pictures of Colored Dots. I’ll Pass.”
— Jacob Rosenberg

“These Photos Provide a Majestic Backdrop to Listen to Jamie Raskin Read the Federalist Papers”
—Jeremy Schulman

“Oh, Fuck, That’s Cylon Raider”
All this has happened before…
—Jeremy Schulman

“You Think Biden’s Old. This Is the Earliest Recorded Light.”
—Anonymous Contributor

All right. Here are the photos. (To hear about these images from people who actually know what they’re talking about, visit NASA.)

The deepest infrared image of the universe yet. These stars are older than each member of our gerontocracy combined.

NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

A dying star. Would that we’d all go out in such a blaze of glory.

NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

Star birth in the Carina Nebula

NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

Stephan’s Quintet, a collection of galaxies. Is there anybody in there?

ASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

LET’S TALK ABOUT OPTIMISM FOR A CHANGE

Democracy and journalism are in crisis mode—and have been for a while. So how about doing something different?

Mother Jones did. We just merged with the Center for Investigative Reporting, bringing the radio show Reveal, the documentary film team CIR Studios, and Mother Jones together as one bigger, bolder investigative journalism nonprofit.

And this is the first time we’re asking you to support the new organization we’re building. In “Less Dreading, More Doing,” we lay it all out for you: why we merged, how we’re stronger together, why we’re optimistic about the work ahead, and why we need to raise the First $500,000 in online donations by June 22.

It won’t be easy. There are many exciting new things to share with you, but spoiler: Wiggle room in our budget is not among them. We can’t afford missing these goals. We need this to be a big one. Falling flat would be utterly devastating right now.

A First $500,000 donation of $500, $50, or $5 would mean the world to us—a signal that you believe in the power of independent investigative reporting like we do. And whether you can pitch in or not, we have a free Strengthen Journalism sticker for you so you can help us spread the word and make the most of this huge moment.

payment methods

LET’S TALK ABOUT OPTIMISM FOR A CHANGE

Democracy and journalism are in crisis mode—and have been for a while. So how about doing something different?

Mother Jones did. We just merged with the Center for Investigative Reporting, bringing the radio show Reveal, the documentary film team CIR Studios, and Mother Jones together as one bigger, bolder investigative journalism nonprofit.

And this is the first time we’re asking you to support the new organization we’re building. In “Less Dreading, More Doing,” we lay it all out for you: why we merged, how we’re stronger together, why we’re optimistic about the work ahead, and why we need to raise the First $500,000 in online donations by June 22.

It won’t be easy. There are many exciting new things to share with you, but spoiler: Wiggle room in our budget is not among them. We can’t afford missing these goals. We need this to be a big one. Falling flat would be utterly devastating right now.

A First $500,000 donation of $500, $50, or $5 would mean the world to us—a signal that you believe in the power of independent investigative reporting like we do. And whether you can pitch in or not, we have a free Strengthen Journalism sticker for you so you can help us spread the word and make the most of this huge moment.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate