Cosmic cliffs and a sea of stars: Stunning first pics from NASA’s Webb telescope
NASA James Webb Space Telescope: The world got a front row seat to the final dance of a dying star, cosmic cliffs, distant galaxies and more cosmic wonders as NASA released the first images from the world’s largest and most powerful space telescope.
Carina Nebula: NASA released first images from the world’s most powerful telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, on Tuesday. This image, called the Cosmic Cliffs, reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth. What looks like a landscape of mountains and valleys is actually the edge of a young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. The tallest ‘peaks’ in this image are about 7 light-years high, according to NASA.
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Stephan’s Quintet: The Webb telescope also captured Stephan's Quintet, a grouping of five galaxies, in exquisite detail, capturing never-before-seen details. “This is a front-row seat to galactic evolution,” wrote NASA, explaining that it provides new insights into how galactic interactions may have driven galaxy evolution in the early universe.
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Southern Ring Nebula: Two cameras aboard Webb captured the latest image of this planetary nebula, known informally as the Southern Ring Nebula. It is approximately 2,500 light-years away. Planetary nebulae are the shells of gas and dust ejected from dying stars, and a dim star was revealed at the centre of this one for the first time ever.
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Webb’s First Deep Field: This image of a galaxy cluster (SMACS 0723) is overflowing with details as it brings the distant cosmos into sharp focus. A composite made from different images over weeks, it shows the galaxy cluster as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago.
