How do space telescopes break down light? Remember the primary colors? Every other color is some combination of the primary colors, red, yellow, and blue. Light also has primary colors, and they work in a similar way. 

TVs make use of light's colors to create the pictures we see. Each pixel of the TV screen contains some amount of red, green, and blue light. The amount of each light determines the overall color of the pixel. So each color on the TV comes from a combination of the primary colors of light, red, green, and blue. 

Space Telescope images of celestial objects are also a combination of the colors of light. Every pixel that is collected can be broken down into its base colors. To learn even more, astronomers break the red, green, and blue light down into even smaller sections called wavelengths. 

This breakdown is called a spectrum. With the right technology, every pixel of light can also be measured as a spectrum. Images show us the big picture, while spectra reveal finer details. Astronomers use spectra to learn things, like what molecules are in planet atmospheres, and distant galaxies. 

An integral field unit or IFU is a special tool on the James Webb Space Telescope that captures images and spectra at the same time. The IFU creates a unique spectrum for each pixel of the image the telescope is capturing, providing scientists with an enormous amount of valuable detailed data. So with an IFU, we can get an image, many spectra, and a better understanding of our universe.