The term for this gruesome process is actually " spaghettification ," according to NASA, inspired by Stephen Hawking's book, A Brief History of Time. In it, the late theoretical physicist first described what would happen to a person approaching a black hole's " event horizon " — its point of no return — in space.

When the JWST began science observations in July 2022, it flung open a whole new window on the universe. The JWST looked further back in time than any other telescope, and it revealed several surprises.