From the years of design and manufacturing through launch and deployment to the extraordinary images and the new science they inform, Infinite Cosmos showcases the revelations coming from the James Webb Space Telescope—the sharpest planetary vistas and the deepest views of the cosmos humankind has ever seen.

Stars forming in clouds of cosmic dust. Jupiter and its moons sharper than we’ve ever seen them. Galaxies billions of years old. The first images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have electrified the world—and astonished veteran scientists with the wealth of information they reveal. In INFINITE COSMOS, National Geographic tells the 20-year saga of the telescope’s development and the feats of science needed to send it into orbit around the sun, a million miles from Earth. Page after page showcase more than 100 spectacular photographs picturing the cosmos as never seen before, from stardust coalescing in the Eagle Nebula’s “pillars of creation” to glittering galaxies, newly discovered exoplanets, deep-space fields of stars, and the planets of our solar system in vivid detail. The definitive printed record of these historic astronomical accomplishments, this is a book that inspires awe and admiration, perfect for space and aerospace enthusiasts, libraries, and anyone who looks up in wonder at the starry skies.