Abstract

The successful launch and deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope has opened a new era in astronomy and astrophysics. Indeed, Webb’s sensitivity in the infrared is up to three orders of magnitude higher than previous facilities. Such a huge leap in sensitivity has happened very rarely in the history of astronomy and, even more broadly, in the history of science. To put it into a context, it is equivalent, in the visible, to suddenly upgrading Galileo’s telescope to modern large telescopes. The first two years of observations obtained by this fantastic observatory have not disappointed, by delivering several impressive, unexpected results. I will give an overview of the exciting Webb’s findings, already in its early phases, from the characterisation of the planets’ atmospheres in other solar systems, to the discovery of the first galaxies and black holes in the primeval Universe.