To mark the fourth anniversary of the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, the European Space Agency has released a striking new video that feels less like a scientific presentation and more like a guided flight through the universe. The short film stitches together some of Webb’s most iconic observations and presents them as a smooth, continuous fly through star-forming clouds, distant galaxies, and immense cosmic structures.
The effect is immersive. Viewers are drawn into richly colored nebulae within the Milky Way, where dense clouds of gas and dust glow in infrared light. These regions, invisible or muted in traditional optical images, are revealed in extraordinary detail by Webb’s instruments, showing the chaotic environments where new stars are born. Filaments, shock fronts, and glowing knots of material appear almost three dimensional, giving a sense of depth that still images rarely convey.
As the video progresses, the perspective pulls outward, leaving our home galaxy behind. Entire galaxies come into view, some locked in slow gravitational collisions, others shining as isolated islands of light. Webb’s infrared sensitivity allows it to capture structures that formed billions of years ago, meaning much of what appears on screen is ancient light from the early universe. The fly through culminates in sweeping views of galaxy clusters, vast congregations of hundreds or even thousands of galaxies bound together by gravity, underscoring the staggering scale of the cosmos.
The timing of the release highlights just how productive Webb has been since its launch on December 25, 2021. After traveling to its orbit around the Sun Earth Lagrange Point 2 and beginning science operations in mid 2022, the telescope quickly rewrote astronomy textbooks. It has identified some of the earliest known galaxies, studied the chemistry of exoplanet atmospheres, and peered through thick cosmic dust that once blocked astronomers’ views.
The video also serves as a quiet reminder of the international collaboration behind the mission. ESA contributed key instruments and continues to support operations and science planning, working alongside NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. What the fly through ultimately celebrates is not only a machine, but a global effort to extend human vision far beyond Earth.
Rather than presenting new data, the video reframes familiar discoveries in a way that emphasizes wonder and perspective. It is a reminder that Webb is not just collecting measurements, but offering humanity an unprecedented window into the structure and history of the universe.
