The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the largest and most powerful space telescope that humanity has ever created, enabling scientists to gaze further into the universe than ever before.
But more impressively, thanks to the (relatively) limited speed of lightthe JWST can effectively peer back in time to the early universe — over 13.5 billion years ago — to study how the first galaxies were born after the Big Bang. Since it launched back in 2021, we’ve already made some staggering discoveries about the cosmos.
Related: 42 jaw-dropping James Webb Space Telescope images
Originally known as the “Next Generation Space Telescope,” the telescope was somewhat controversially named after James E. Webb, one of NASA’s early administrators. Webb ran NASA from 1961 to 1968, overseeing the Apollo program and retiring mere months before NASA landed a man on the moon.
But how much do you know about this scientific marvel? Take our JWST quiz and find out. Be sure to log in if you want to compete on our leaderboard, and hit the hint button if you can’t see a way to the answer.
