There Is a Planet With Clouds Made of Sand

Now that the world’s most powerful space telescope is finally up and running, we’re in for a constant stream of stunning images of the universe. Just a ton of galaxies everywhere, more detailed than you’ve ever seen them, and too many stars to count—all of it sparkling with an intensity that humankind hasn’t captured before.

Not every interesting image from the James Webb Space Telescope is going to be , though. Some will be charts, like , all lines and dots and squiggles. That chart doesn’t have the special oomph of Webb’s view of galaxy clusters, or the wow factor of the Carina Nebula snapshot. But the unassuming chart, and the many others like it that Webb will produce over the next 20 years, is quietly thrilling in its own way. These images will stretch our imagination about