katie mack joins us. a theoretical astrophysicist and the hawking chair in cosmology and science communication at the perimeter institute for theoretical physics in canada. she is the author of "the end of everything." astra physically speaking. welcome to democracy now! these pictures have been spectacular but so many of us don't know what we are looking at. in very lay terms, if you can expend what was released this week? >> the pictures that were released this week are really some astonishing versions of the range of things this telescope is able to do. it got a deep field looking into the deep cosmos, the farthest reaches of the cosmos. it got a picture of interacting galaxies, galaxies that are crashing into each other to show how the telescope is able to tease out the details of the gas and dust and stars forming. it gave us images of a couple of nebulae where stars are forming, newborn stars are forming out of the gas and dust and one where the remains of a dying star are sort of blowing up this bu