James Webb Space Telescope - Science images

Annotated image of Digel Cloud 2S captured by Webb's NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), with compass arrows, a...
Annotated image of Digel Cloud 2S captured by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) with compass arrows, scale bar, color key, and graphic overlays for reference. At center right is a compact star cluster composed of luminous red, blue, and white points of light. Faint jets with clumpy, diffuse material extend in various directions from the bright cluster. Five white arrows trace the paths of the jets. Above and to the right is a smaller cluster of stars. Translucent red wisps of material stretch across the scene, though there are patches and a noticeable gap in the top left corner that reveal the black background of space. Background galaxies are scattered across this swath of space, appearing as small blue-white and orange-white dots or fuzzy, thin disks. There are two noticeably larger points, foreground stars, with diffraction spikes: an orange-white point on the left, and a blue-white point in the top right.
Scientists used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to examine select star-forming areas in the Extreme Outer Galaxy in near- and...
At center right is a compact star cluster composed of luminous red, blue, and white points of light. Faint jets with clumpy, diffuse material extend in various directions from the bright cluster. Above and to the right is a smaller cluster of stars. Translucent red wisps of material stretch across the scene, though there are patches and a noticeable gap in the top left corner that reveal the black background of space. Background galaxies are scattered across this swath of space, appearing as small blue-white and orange-white dots or fuzzy, thin disks. There are two noticeably larger points, foreground stars, with diffraction spikes: an orange-white point on the left, and a blue-white point in the top right.
At the center of these side-by-side images is a special class of star used as a milepost marker for measuring...
A horizontal, two-panel image of pixelated, black-and-white star fields. The left image label is: “Webb Near-IR.” It holds a few dozen points of light of varying brightness. At the center of the image, a circle marks one bright point. The right image label is: “Hubble Near-IR.” It holds more indistinct, blurry patches whose overall brightness is similar to the more defined regions in the left image. At center, a circle marks a light gray pixel.
This image of NGC 5468, a galaxy located about 130 million light-years from Earth, combines data from the Hubble and...
A spiral galaxy with a small bar of bright-white stars at its core. Two main spiral arms extend outward from each end of the bar. They appear to fork into multiple branches beyond the galaxy's core. The spiral arms have a lavender hue. Bright-white and bright-red stars dot the galaxy. Reddish-brown dust lanes line the inner curves of the spiral arms.
Video still frame from a sonification of the Southern Ring Nebula. Two views of the same object, the Southern Ring...
Video still frame from a sonification of the Southern Ring Nebula. Two views of the same object, the Southern Ring Nebula, are shown side by side. Both feature black backgrounds speckled with tiny bright stars and distant galaxies. Both show the planetary nebula as a misshapen oval that is slightly angled from top left to bottom right. At left, the near-infrared image shows a bright white star with eight long diffraction spikes at the center. A large transparent teal oval surrounds the central star. Several red shells surround the teal oval, extending almost to the edges of the image. The red layers, which are wavy overall, look like they have very thin straight lines piercing through them. At right, the mid-infrared image shows two stars at the center very close to one another. The one at left is red, the one at right is light blue. The blue star has tiny diffraction spikes around it. A large translucent red oval surrounds the central stars. From the red oval, shells extend in a mix of colors.
The James Webb Space Telescope has observed the best evidence yet for emission from a neutron star at the site...
A three-panel image of a supernova remnant. The left panel is labeled “NIRCam” while the two right panels are labeled “MIRI M R S Argon two” (at top) and “NIRSpec I F U Argon six” (at bottom). At left, a mottled light pinkish-orange oval whose inner edge resembles a string of pearls. Within the oval is a dense blue-green cloud, shaped like a keyhole. Three stars with six-point diffraction patterns surround the oval. Above and below these structures, are very faint orange rings, which form a figure eight pattern. The center of the supernova remnant is surrounded by a white box with lines leading to the upper and lower right of the image, where two stacked panels show a bright orange ring with an orange dot in the middle. The upper panel is fuzzier and more blobby, while the bottom panel has more clearly defined edges around the ring and central dot.
These are examples of distant galaxies captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in its CEERS Survey. Galaxies frequently appear...
Six galaxies appear in boxes, three by two. From top left to bottom right: The three galaxies in the top row are labeled, elongated appearance. All three galaxies appear to form thin lines that take up less than a quarter of the frame. The galaxy at top left has a horizontal thin line with two dots beneath it; the center galaxy is a short line from top left to bottom right made up of individual dots, with a haze toward the center-left; the right galaxy is the longest line angles from top left to bottom right, and several dim dots above it. Along the lower row, the galaxies at left and center, labeled disk-like appearances, have hazy spiral shapes, and each take up about half of the frame. The galaxy at lower right, labeled spherical appearance, looks like a bright dot centered in the frame and is far smaller.
This is an animation portraying the creation of the cat’s tail, as hypothesized by a team of astronomers. The cat’s...
This image from Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) shows the star system Beta Pictoris. An edge-on disk of dusty debris generated...
Star system Beta Pictoris with labels and graphic overlays. A thin, elongated horizontal orange line appears at the center of the frame, extending almost to the edges. This is a debris disk seen edge-on. A white line traces over the orange debris disk and is labeled “main disk plane.” A thin blue-green disk is inclined about five degrees counterclockwise relative to the orange main disk and is highlighted by a blue-green line labeled “extended secondary disk.” Cloudy, translucent gray material is most prominent near the orange main debris disk. Some of the gray material forms a curved feature in the upper right and is marked with a yellow line labeled “cat’s tail.” The central star, represented as a small white star icon, is blocked by an instrument known as a coronagraph, which forms a large black circle at center and two small disks pointing to the upper left and lower right. The background of space is black. In the lower right corner is a white bar labeled “100 A U.”
Astronomers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to study 12 cold brown dwarfs. Two of them – W1935 and W2220...
A graphic titled “Brown Dwarfs W1935 and W2220, Atmospheric Methane, NIRSpec Slit Spectroscopy.
This artist concept portrays the brown dwarf W1935, which is located 47 light-years from Earth. Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb...
An artist concept portrays a round, dark blue, gaseous object on a black, star-filled background.
The James Webb Space Telescope observed 19 nearby face-on spiral galaxies in near- and mid-infrared light as part of its...
Nineteen Webb images of face-on spiral galaxies are combined in a mosaic. Some appear within squares, and others horizontal or vertical rectangles. Many galaxies have blue hazes toward the centers, and all have orange spiral arms. Many have clear bar shaped-structures at their centers, but a few have spirals that begin at their cores. Some of the galaxies’ arms form clear spiral shapes, while others are more irregular. Some of the galaxies’ arms appear to rotate clockwise and others counterclockwise. Most galaxy cores are centered, but a few appear toward an image’s edge. Most galaxies appear to extend beyond the captured observations. The galaxies shown, listed in alphabetical order, are IC 5332, NGC 628, NGC 1087, NGC1300, NGC 1365, NGC 1385, NGC 1433, NGC 1512, NGC 1566, NGC 1672, NGC 2835, NGC 3351, NGC 3627, NGC 4254, NGC 4303, NGC 4321, NGC 4535, NGC 5068, and NGC 7496.
Researchers analyzing distant galaxies that show up in the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey from NASA’s James Webb...
In the far-left column are two galaxies that have been magnified. The top left galaxy appears circular and light pink with a slightly whiter central region, taking up less than one-sixth of the box. The bottom galaxy is elongated, stretching almost from top left to bottom right. It has a white line at the center that has a pink outline that transitions into and bluish edges at far left and right. Thin lines from each magnified galaxy point their appearances in the broader field. The top galaxy appears as a tiny dot at the upper center, and the bottom galaxy toward the left. Thousands of galaxies appear across most of this view, which is set against the black background of space. There are many overlapping objects at various distances. They include large, blue foreground stars, with Webb’s signature eight-pointed diffraction spikes, and white and pink spiral and elliptical galaxies. Numerous tiny red dots appear throughout the scene. This is a portion of a vast survey known in shorthand as CEERS.
This panchromatic view of galaxy cluster MACS0416 was created by combining infrared observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope with...
A field of galaxies on the black background of space. In the middle, stretching from left to right, is a collection of dozens of yellowish spiral and elliptical galaxies that form a foreground galaxy cluster. Among them are distorted linear features, which mostly appear to follow invisible concentric circles curving around the center of the image.
This image from Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) shows the star system Beta Pictoris. An edge-on disk of dusty debris generated...
Star system Beta Pictoris. A thin, elongated horizontal orange line appears at the center of the frame, extending almost to the edges. This is a debris disk seen edge-on. A thin blue-green disk is inclined about five degrees counterclockwise relative to the orange main disk. Cloudy, translucent gray material is most prominent near the orange main debris disk. Some of the gray material forms a curved feature in the upper right, resembling a cat’s tail. The central star, represented as a small white star icon, is blocked by an instrument known as a coronagraph, which forms a large black circle at center and two small disks pointing to the upper left and lower right. The background of space is black.
This artist concept portrays the brown dwarf W1935, which is located 47 light-years from Earth. Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb...
An artist concept portrays a round, dark blue, gaseous object on a black, star-filled background.
NASA's James Webb and Hubble Space Telescope have provided one of the most colorful and comprehensive views of the universe...
A field of galaxies on the black background of space. In the middle, stretching from left to right, is a collection of dozens of yellowish spiral and elliptical galaxies that form a foreground galaxy cluster. They form a rough, flat line along the center. Among them are distorted linear features, which mostly appear to follow invisible concentric circles curving around the center of the image. The linear features are created when the light of a background galaxy is bent and magnified through gravitational lensing. At center left, a particularly prominent example stretches vertically about three times the length of a nearby galaxy. A variety of brightly colored, red and blue galaxies of various shapes are scattered across the image, making it feel densely populated. Near the center are two tiny galaxies compared to the galaxy cluster: a very red edge-on spiral and a very blue face-on spiral, which provide a striking color contrast.
This panchromatic view of galaxy cluster MACS0416 was created by combining infrared observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope with...
A field of galaxies on the black background of space. In the middle, stretching from left to right, is a collection of dozens of yellowish spiral and elliptical galaxies that form a foreground galaxy cluster. Among them are distorted linear features, which mostly appear to follow invisible concentric circles curving around the center of the image.
A side-by-side comparison of the Crab Nebula as seen by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in optical light (left) and NASA's...
A side-by-side-comparison of the Crab Nebula as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope in optical light (left) and the James Webb Space Telescope in infrared light (right). In both images, the oval nebula’s complex structure lies against a black background. On the nebula’s exterior, particularly at the top left and bottom left, lie curtains of glowing red and orange fluffy material. Interior to this outer shell lie large-scale loops of mottled filaments of yellow-white and green, studded with clumps and knots. In the Hubble image, the central interior of the nebula glows brightly, while the Webb image shows translucent thin ribbons of smoky white in the same area. Around and within the supernova remnant are many points of blue-white light in the Hubble image, and blue, red, and yellow light in the Webb image.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s high resolution, near-infrared look at Herbig-Haro 211 reveals exquisite detail of the outflow of a...
At the center is a thin horizontal pinkish cloud known as Herbig-Haro 211 that is uneven with rounded ends, and tilted from bottom left to top right. It takes up about two-thirds of the length of this angle, but is thinner and longer at the opposite angle. At its center is a dark spot. On either side of the dark spot, there are orangish yellow wisps that extend to light blue wisps. Within the center of those clouds, a pink fluffy streak runs through each lobe. At the ends of each lobe, pink becomes the dominant color. The lobe to the left is fatter. The right lobe is thinner, and ends in a smaller pink semi-circle. Just off the edge of this lobe is a slightly smaller pink semicircle, then a pink sponge-like blog. The background contains several bright stars, each with eight diffraction spikes extending out from the central bright point.
A wide field view showcases Jupiter in the upper right quadrant. The planet’s swirling horizontal stripes are rendered in blues,...
Webb’s Jupiter Images Showcase Auroras, Hazes
This image depicts a field of hundreds of galaxies of various shapes, colors and sizes. Most are small while a...
Webb Glimpses Field of Extragalactic PEARLS, Studded With Galactic Diamonds
The eerie landscape is captured this time by the James Webb Space Telescope’s mid-infrared instrument (MIRI). Mid-infrared light specializes in...
James Webb image of the The Pillars of Creation
By combining images of the iconic Pillars of Creation from two cameras aboard NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the universe...
Image of the Pillars of Creation
NASA’s Webb Captures Dying Star’s Final ‘Performance’ in Fine Detail
This image is from Webb’s NIRCam instrument, which saw this nebula in the near-infrared.
The James Webb Space Telescope spotted the unambiguous signature of water, indications of haze & evidence for clouds (once thought...
NASA’s Webb Reveals Steamy Atmosphere of Distant Planet in Detail.
Behind the curtain of dust and gas in these “Cosmic Cliffs” are previously hidden baby stars, now uncovered by Webb....
An image of the Carina Nebula.
In the James Webb Space Telescope’s image of Stephan’s Quintet, we see 5 galaxies, 4 of which interact. (The left...
NASA’s Webb Sheds Light on Galaxy Evolution, Black Holes
galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail. Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the...
The image shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago