Aug 28, 2024, 06:58 PM IST

10 captivating images of space objects captured by NASA's James Webb Telescope 

Shweta Singh

The JWST's recent survey of 19 spiral galaxies, including our Milky Way, revealed detailed views of their structure. Infrared images showed clouds of dust glowing in red and orange.

A spectacular spiral

Newborn star HH 211, 1,000 light-years away, shoots out gas and dust streams, creating shockwaves that resemble lightsabers. This might be how our sun looked billions of years ago.

A 'lightsaber' in space

The nebula N79, 1,630 light-years wide in the Large Magellanic Cloud, bursts with color from interstellar hydrogen clouds. This star-forming region is largely unexplored by astronomers.

A vibrant nursery

JWST's debut image is the most detailed and deepest ever, showing a bright galaxy cluster magnifying light from stars over 13 billion light-years away, with thousands of younger galaxies in the background.

 Webb's deep field 

The "Phantom Galaxy," 32 million light-years away, resembles a celestial nautilus shell with its prominent spiral arms, earning it the name "grand design spiral."

The 'Phantom Galaxy'

Stephan's Quintet, 290 million light-years away in Pegasus, features five galaxies in a tight, near-collisional dance, stretching and warping stars as they pass each other.

Stephan's quintet

The Cartwheel Galaxy, 500 million light-years away, is a spiral galaxy with a wagon-wheel shape due to an ancient collision. It likely resembled the Milky Way before this event.

The Cartwheel Galaxy

JWST’s close-up of Uranus reveals 11 of its 13 rings in stunning detail, offering a new view of the distant planet, which is not visible to the naked eye from Earth.

Uranus in high-def

A young star expels gas streams into dust clouds, forming a fiery hourglass shape in the constellation Taurus.

A fiery hourglass