The James Webb Space Telescope has captured many stunning images of galaxies and nebulae, opening up numerous opportunities for research and exploration.
The Globular Cluster NGC 6440 orbits the bulge region at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, an area densely packed with stars. Observing such dense star clusters has been a challenge until the arrival of the James Webb Space Telescope – (Image: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Freire).
Since its launch on December 25, 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope, currently over 1.6 million kilometers from Earth, has provided groundbreaking insights into the history of our universe.
This year, James Webb has helped measure extremely tiny fluctuations in the brightness of the hot Jupiter exoplanet WASP-43b, which is the size of Jupiter, captured the birth of stars, found evidence of a neutron star in a blazing supernova remnant, and provided new insights for researchers studying spiral galaxies with wavy arms.
The magazine Popular Science has compiled 8 images taken by James Webb of beloved galaxies and nebulae in 2024 (as of May 2024), showcasing the inspiring grandeur of the endless universe.
Inside the Large Magellanic Cloud (a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way) is N79, a giant star formation complex. N79 produces stars at an impressive rate, much faster than similar regions in our galaxy – (Image: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, O. Nayak, M. Meixner).
At the center of I Zwicky 18 are two bursts of star formation. This irregular dwarf galaxy was first identified in the 1930s, but scientists are using Webb’s resolution and sensitivity in the infrared to observe I Zwicky 18 in more detail and study the life cycle of stars – (Image: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, A. Hirschauer, M. Meixner et al.).
Around 32 million light-years from Earth is NGC 1433, a spiral galaxy with a brilliant bright center – (Image: NASA, ESA, CSA).
The James Webb Space Telescope has captured the sharpest infrared images ever of the “mane” of the Horsehead Nebula. Within its gray-blue cloud, young stars can be seen shimmering – (Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Karl Misselt (University of Arizona), Alain Abergel (AIM Paris-Saclay), STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), PHANGS team).
Young, massive stars in their early life stages are hidden within the dust layer of NGC 604. This star formation region is located in the Triangulum Galaxy, approximately 2.73 million light-years away – (Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI).
Hidden behind a large amount of dust, the James Webb Space Telescope has captured young stars in the massive arm of NGC 1559, a spiral galaxy 35 million light-years from Earth – (Image: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy, J. Lee and the PHANGS team).
Data from the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb have been combined to photograph NGC 5468, a galaxy approximately 130 million light-years from Earth – (Image: Webb NIRCam Hubble WFC3).
