JWST's groundbreaking discoveries unveil secrets of the universe.

The James Webb Space Telescope has detected a variety of chemical compounds in the disks of gas and dust surrounding three low-mass stars, including organic molecules like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, acetylene, and the first detections of benzene, as well as water. The stars studied are only a few million years old, which means the chemicals spotted by the telescope will ultimately be inherited by planets and their atmospheres that will form in these cosmic nurseries. Webb's data allows astronomers to determine physical conditions like densities and temperatures across and inside those planet-forming disks, directly where the planets grow.