ESAWebb Images

Cat’s Head Nebula (Hubble WFC3, Webb NIRCam, and Webb MIRI images)

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 15:00:00 +0100

The NASA/ESA Hubble and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescopes recently stared at an eerie star-forming scene within the Carina Nebula, a massive gas and dust cloud located approximately 7,500 light-years away from Earth. The two telescopes offer complementary views of the shadowy form, nicknamed the Cat’s Head Nebula, which reflects the “magical” process of star formation. Hubble’s visible-light view shows the cat as a dark, elongated dust pillar and hints of young forming stars, while Webb’s infrared-light imagery unveils many stars and other hidden details.

This collage shows three views of the Cat’s Head Nebula. Left: in visible light from Hubble’s WFC3 instrument; centre: in near-infrared from Webb’s NIRCam instrument; right: in mid-infrared from Webb’s MIRI instrument.

[Image description: A collage of three images of the Cat’s Head Nebula. On the right is a Hubble visible-light image. A dark brown, opaque filament of dust is in the center, stretching from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and a tail extending downward. In the centre is Webb’s NIRCam view where bright red spot marks the eye. The top half of the background is bright blue. Approximately halfway down, cutting diagonally across the frame, the background colour changes from blue to yellow, orange, and finally red near the bottom. On the right is Webb’s MIRI view. A bluish-gray filament of dust is in the center, stretching from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and a tail extending downward.]

Cat’s Head Nebula (Webb MIRI)

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 15:00:00 +0100

In the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s mid-infrared image, emission from warm dust and carbon-based molecules excited by starlight outlines intricate structures within the nebula. Changes in local conditions and compositions cause variations in colour and brightness. Fine strands and globules are especially apparent to the left of the main pillar.

To the right of the pillar, a bright yellow light source is seen against reddish mid-infrared emission, probably an infant star embedded in dust. A narrow filament appears to cross the likely star, although its physical relationship to the star is not established. Several blue stars are scattered throughout, some with Webb’s characteristic diffraction spikes.

[Image description: Mid-infrared image of the Cat’s Head Nebula by the James Webb Space Telescope. A bluish-gray filament of dust is in the center, stretching from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and a tail extending downward. The tail ends at the lower one-third of the image and widens to a triangular peak of dust. The cat’s head is turned toward the right, revealing a white glowing eye. The background is mostly red, with the top left and right corners revealing the black background of space. On the cat’s left is a dome-shaped grouping of faint filaments of dust. Scattered throughout the view are yellow and blue stars, some with Webb’s signature eight-point diffraction spikes.]

Cat’s Head Nebula (Webb NIRCam image)

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 15:00:00 +0100

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared image of the Cat’s Head Nebula peers through some of the dust to reveal a dense field of stars and the filament’s complex surface structure. Faint, wispy structures to the left of the pillar contain material exposed to intense stellar radiation.

Webb captures a dense field of stars, shown in blue and yellow. Even in near-infrared light, some stars are still enshrouded in dust. The bright region marking the cat’s eye may contain an embedded young star. The telescope’s high-resolution imagery even reveals faint background galaxies.

[Image description: Near-infrared image of the Cat’s Head Nebula by the James Webb Space Telescope. An orange-brown filament of dust is in the center, stretching from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and a tail extending downward. The tail ends at the lower one-third of the image and widens to a squarish dust cloud. The cat’s head is turned toward the right, revealing a yellow glowing eye. The background is mostly blue, with the top right corner revealing the black background of space. On the cat’s left are ghostly filaments of dust. Scattered throughout the view are many yellow and blue stars, some with Webb’s signature eight-point diffraction spikes, and a few faint background galaxies.]

Cat’s Head Nebula (Webb NIRCam image)

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 15:00:00 +0100

Webb captures a dense field of stars that appear blue and yellow in this colour-composite image. Even in near-infrared light, some stars are still enshrouded in dust. The bright region marking the cat’s eye may contain an embedded young star. A faint jet-like feature near the cat’s belly could be associated with a stellar outflow, but its origin is uncertain.

[Image description: Near-infrared image of the Cat’s Head Nebula by the James Webb Space Telescope. An orange-brown filament of dust is in the center, stretching from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and a tail extending downward. The tail ends at the lower one-third of the image and widens to a squarish dust cloud. The cat’s head is turned toward the right, revealing a yellow glowing eye. The background is mostly blue, with the top right corner revealing the black background of space. On the cat’s left are ghostly filaments of dust. Scattered throughout the view are many yellow and blue points of light, some with Webb’s signature eight-point diffraction spikes, and a few faint background galaxies.]

Cat’s Head Nebula (Hubble WFC3 image)

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 15:00:00 +0100

The Cat’s Head Nebula in visible light by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula is an opaque, dark brown pillar of dust. The cat’s glowing red eye may indicate a young star embedded in the dust. The nebula’s right side has a hazy yellow outline, consistent with an illuminated, ionised rim where a process known as photoevaporation may occur. During this process, energetic ultraviolet light impinges on the gas, heating it up and essentially evaporating it.

The background changes from blue and cyan above the pillar to yellow, orange, and red farther down. Hubble’s filters record scattered starlight along with light emitted from oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur. Differences in gas excitation, absorption by dust, and illumination all contribute to the changing colours.

Arcs of material toward the bottom may have been shaped by ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from massive stars. Many small stars, and some larger stars with Hubble’s characteristic four-point diffraction spikes, are scattered in the background and foreground.

[Image description: Visible-light image of the Cat’s Head Nebula by the Hubble Space Telescope. A dark brown, opaque filament of dust is in the center, stretching from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and a tail extending downward. The cat’s head is turned toward the right, revealing a red glowing eye. A bright red spot marks the eye. The top half of the background is bright blue. Approximately halfway down, cutting diagonally across the frame, the background colour changes from blue to yellow, orange, and finally red near the bottom. The image is dotted with many small stars. Some larger stars with the telescope’s characteristic four-point diffraction spikes are scattered in the background and foreground.]

Cat’s Head Nebula (Webb NIRCam image)

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 15:00:00 +0100

[Image description: Near-infrared image of the Cat’s Head Nebula by the James Webb Space Telescope. An orange-brown filament of dust is in the center, stretching from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and a tail extending downward. The tail ends at the lower one-third of the image and widens to a squarish dust cloud. The cat’s head is turned toward the right, revealing a yellow glowing eye. The background is mostly blue, with the top right corner revealing the black background of space. On the cat’s left are ghostly filaments of dust. Scattered throughout the view are many yellow and blue points of light, some with Webb’s signature eight-point diffraction spikes, and a few faint background galaxies.]

Stars brewing in a nebulous cauldron

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

In this Picture of the Month from the NASA/ESA James Webb Space Telescope, we visit a turbulent cauldron of star formation to see what is brewing inside dense clumps of gas. This is a star-forming region named LHA 120-N 159, or simply N159, located 161 000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), one of the satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way galaxy. This image spans about 230 light years across.

N159 is what astronomers call a H II region: an area of space filled with ionised hydrogen gas. In stellar nurseries such as this one, giant molecular clouds of cold hydrogen gas collapse under gravity, forming new stars. Many of these stars are extremely massive and hot, and their powerful ultraviolet radiation ionises the gas around them. This makes H II regions markers of active star formation, and as the ionised gas radiates light this turns them into the kind of brilliant emission nebula that we see in this image. The fierce stellar winds from these stars sculpt dense ridges and carve open cavities in the gas, which Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) captures here in great detail.

The roiling brew of star formation in N159 is closed in by thick, smoky orange clouds that also billow across the centre of the image. The light orange colour signifies light emitted by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, an important carbon-based molecule. The pools of pale blue gas are clouds of H II gas, ionised by the intense ultraviolet light from massive stars. Dark red filaments cross the centre of the image, particularly visible above the blue region on the right side; these are made of cool molecular hydrogen. These filaments are the densest part of the nebula and currently shield new stars from harsh radiation and stellar winds — by zooming in, you can see stars as points of light embedded in these filaments and in the small pillars of orange gas that reach out into the blue bubbles. Eventually, these structures will melt away, leaving their completed stars behind.

The LMC is full of H II regions like N159 conveniently located for us to study, including the larger N79 region and the spectacular Tarantula Nebula. They are not exactly like the star-forming regions within our own galaxy: the LMC’s metallicity — its proportion of the elements, which astronomers call “metals”, that are heavier than hydrogen and helium — is significantly lower than in the Milky Way galaxy. This gives researchers an opportunity to study H II regions in conditions that are more similar to those found in the early Universe, helping us to learn about star formation in that time.

At less than three million years old, N159 is one of the youngest star-forming regions of the LMC, containing thousands of stars at their earliest stages of formation. Since the advent of space telescopes astronomers have closely examined the stellar populations in N159. The brightly glowing spot on the left side of the image is the Papillon Nebula, an exceptionally compact blob of ionised hydrogen that is thought to be linked to the formation of massive stars: it was resolved for the first time by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in 1999. Sections of the sweeping clouds of gas were featured in a pair of images from Hubble in 2025, covering east and west sides of the cloud.

The data used in this new Webb image come from an observing programme (#5114) aiming to study and compare stars throughout their different stages of evolution in this giant nebula. In the resulting paper, astronomers delved into N159 with greater detail thanks to these new and comprehensive Webb data. They were able to detect extremely dim stars less than a tenth as massive as the Sun, and distinguish larger, hotter, fully evolved stars from the young stellar objects still wrapped up in the thick clouds where they are born. Their results showed that the western region of N159 has more of these young stellar objects in a more concentrated area, showing that it is at an earlier stage of collapsing to form stars. With the whole sequence of star formation taking place at once, N159 is a unique place to see the evolution of a collapsing molecular cloud up close.

[Image Description: A nebula made of clouds of gas and dust with stars forming within. In the centre and out to the left it is filled with thin, wispy blue gas that forms delicate layers. Around this are thicker orange clouds with dark ridges. Thin red filaments of gas cross the centre of the nebula. Glowing bubbles in the gas contain dense, very bright clusters of stars. In the edges, distant stars are visible as bright points on a dark background.]

N159 (wide view)

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

The roiling brew of star formation in N159 is closed in by thick, smoky orange clouds that also billow across the centre of the image. The light orange colour signifies light emitted by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, an important carbon-based molecule. Left and right of centre, the pools of bright blue gas are clouds of H II gas, ionised by the intense ultraviolet light from massive stars. Dark red filaments cross the centre of the image, particularly visible above the blue region on the right side; these are made of cool molecular hydrogen. These filaments are the densest part of the nebula and currently shield new stars from harsh radiation and stellar winds, but eventually they will also melt away.

This image of N159 shows more of the nebula’s surroundings, including its southern region. This area is even less evolved than the western region with little star formation, affording a view of the stars in the LMC.

[Image Description: A nebula made of clouds of gas and dust with stars forming within. In the centre large pockets of blue gas are thin and wispy, forming delicate layers. Around this, more so on the right, are thicker orange clouds with dark ridges. Glowing bubbles in the gas contain dense, very bright clusters of stars. The bottom of the image is mostly free of gas and shows distant stars as bright points on a dark background.]

Farthest Fast Radio Burst host galaxy spectrum

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 20:00:00 +0200

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope were able to study the host galaxy of the most distant known fast radio burst (FRB). By detecting light emitted from oxygen and nitrogen, they were able to determine the galaxy’s cosmological redshift, thereby confirming the FRB occurred just 3 billion years after the Big Bang.

[Image description: A graphic titled “Fast Radio Burst Host Galaxy; Most Distant Fast Radio Burst; NIRSpec Integral Field Spectroscopy.” A graph plots brightness of light versus wavelength. The y axis is labeled brightness with an up arrow labeled brighter and a down arrow labeled dimmer. The x axis is labeled “Wavelength of Light, microns” and goes from 1.0 to 5.0 with tickmarks every 0.5 microns. A jagged white line slopes downward from left to right between 1.0 and 2.5 microns, and is mostly flat beyond that. A prominent peak at 1.6 microns is labeled Oxygen with a transparent blue vertical band. Another peak at 2.1 microns is labeled Hydrogen with a transparent red vertical band. At upper right, a box contains text reading “Redshift = 2.148”.]

FRB 20240304B (NIRCam annotated image)

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 20:00:00 +0200

This image of the host galaxy of fast radio burst FRB 20240304B, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), shows compass arrows, scale bar, and colour key for reference.

The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above).

This image shows invisible near-infrared wavelengths of light that have been translated into visible-light colours. The colour key shows which NIRCam filters were used when collecting the light. The colour of each filter name is the visible light colour used to represent the infrared light that passes through that filter.

[Image description: Image titled “James Webb Space Telescope, FRB 20240304B”. A field full of small galaxies of all shapes against the blackness of space. A few bright white stars show 8 prominent diffraction spikes. A small galaxy at lower right is highlighted with a white box. A shaded triangle extends upward to the corners of a larger box showing a zoom in of the region. Two fuzzy, light blue blobs are at centre, with a larger and brighter one at top. Just above the top blob is a white crosshair showing the location where a fast radio burst was detected. At bottom right, a compass arrow shows north pointing to one o’clock and east pointing to 10 o’clock. A label at bottom says “JWST NIRCam filters” with F200W in blue and F322W in orange.]

FRB 20240304B (NIRCam clean image)

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 20:00:00 +0200

This image shows the field of where the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) was able to detect the host galaxy of the fast radio burst called FRB 20240304B.

[Image description: A field full of small galaxies of all shapes against the blackness of space. A few bright white stars show 8 prominent diffraction spikes.]

FRB 20240304B (NIRCam image)

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 20:00:00 +0200

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) was able to detect the host galaxy of the fast radio burst called FRB 20240304B, whose location is shown by the white cross. They found it is a small dwarf galaxy actively forming stars.

[Image description: A field full of small galaxies of all shapes against the blackness of space. A few bright white stars show 8 prominent diffraction spikes. A small galaxy at lower right is highlighted with a white box. A shaded triangle extends upward to the corners of a larger box showing a zoom in of the region. Two fuzzy, light blue blobs are at centre, with a larger and brighter one at top. Just above the top blob is a white crosshair showing the location where a fast radio burst was detected.]

NGC 7129 (NIRCam image)

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 15:00:00 +0200

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-InfraRed Camera) has revealed many protostars and stars within the glowing gases of NGC 7129.

The region to the left of the central star is filled with hot, atomic hydrogen gas, which creates a golden glow, while the region to the right is packed with cooler, molecular hydrogen. Embedded protostars in the rightmost region eject outflows that shock and heat the region, giving certain areas a red hue and a clumpy texture. Many of these red outflows, ejected as protostars accumulate mass, are visible throughout the image.

The central star and the stars embedded within the golden region are at a more mature stage in their life cycle than the protostars growing to the right of the central star. Their heat breaks down the molecular hydrogen into atoms, driving the differences in temperature and color. The coldest, densest gas, where protostars have yet to form, is shown in grey.

[Image description: A young star cluster filled with many stars that display Webb’s unique eight-pronged diffraction pattern. At its center is a yellow star which sports the largest diffraction pattern. To the left of the star, there is a region filled with yellow dust and gas that extends from the star to the left border of the image. This yellow region extends from the bottom, covering about two-thirds of the image. The yellow region has several blue stars of different sizes embedded within. The top third, which lies outside of the yellow region, holds a few bright protostars, within dense gray gas. Those stars illuminate the gas, making it appear blue. A few red outflows from other protostars are visible above this grayish-blue region. To the right of the central star, there is a clumpy, flame-like plume of red dust and gas with protostars that emit a soft white light within. The plume is surrounded by more dense gray gas and dust. There are several background galaxies strewn throughout the image.]

Extreme debris disc (artist’s concept)

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 16:00:00 +0200

Extreme debris discs, a subclass of debris discs, contain unusually large amounts of warm dust close to their stars, in the region comparable to where rocky planets orbit in our Solar System. Studying the composition of these discs, particularly their silica content, can provide information on the type of collisions — whether they are head-on or less direct, like grazing — and the general size of the crashing bodies (Mars-sized or Moon-sized) that are contributing to their dust content. This artist’s concept portrays one such collision.

Analysing the composition of extreme debris discs benefits our collective understanding of our solar system, which may have experienced more than one extreme debris disc phase.

[Image description: Artist’s concept of a star and its debris disc against the black background of space. The star is in the background, right of center, and depicted as a small, luminous sphere. The debris disc is a large blue ring that encircles the star. The debris disc is angled toward the viewer, so that the portion nearest to the viewer extends beyond the bottom frame of the illustration. Many dark, rocky fragments are scattered throughout the debris disc. In the foreground, toward the left, is a small planetary embryo colliding into the left side of a larger spherical object. The impact site glows bright yellow and orange and has a mottled appearance, as though chunks of both colliding bodies are breaking up and being destroyed. Orange-yellow streams of vapor extend outward from the collision area. Behind the debris disc and its star are many small stars in the background.]

Composition of extreme debris discs across time

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 16:00:00 +0200

A team of researchers compiled the largest sample of extreme debris discs to date thanks to data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb and NASA’s Spitzer space telescopes. These young stellar systems are a subclass of debris discs, which follows the juvenile protoplanetary disc stage.

Interested in the mineralogical makeup of these young stellar systems, the team separated their sample into silica-rich and silica-poor. Based on their categorisation, they were able to infer the type of collisions that are helping create these chaotic, dusty environments.

Of their sample, eight are silica-rich discs (black dots), suggesting that they are produced by high-energy impacts between Mars-sized bodies where a substantial amount of the material is vaporised. Thirteen discs fall into the silica-poor category (purple dots), indicating that the collisions within these discs are less intense in nature and occur between Moon-sized objects. The team also noted the corresponding age of each disc’s star and spotted an interesting trend: The silica-rich discs in their sample are found only around stars younger than 300 million years. The stars with silica-poor discs span a broad range of ages.

The study’s findings are shaping scientists’ understanding of our own Solar System, which may have experienced more than one extreme debris disc phase. Simulations suggest that terrestrial planets should form within the first few hundred million years. This period aligns with the distribution of the silica-rich extreme debris discs and with astronomers’ estimation that Earth and the Moon formed around 100 million years after the Sun formed, with the Moon likely being the result of a collision between Earth and a Mars-sized object.

The distribution of the silica-poor discs is broadly consistent with the Late Heavy Bombardment hypothesis for our Solar System, which proposes that the gas giant planets migrated significant distances and gravitationally disrupted the orbits of smaller bodies. Due to their movements, catastrophic collisions occurred and generated the short-lived, dust-rich phases observed in extreme debris discs.

[Image description: Graphic titled Extreme Debris Discs, Composition Across Time showing a plot and corresponding timeline of the Solar System. The plot’s y-axis is labeled Silica with an up arrow labeled rich and a down arrow labeled poor. The x-axis is labeled Age (millions of years) and starts with 1 at the left and increases by factors of ten, ending with 1000 at right. A key at right has 3 symbols: black dot is Silica-rich disc, purple is Silica-poor disc, and orange is Protoplanetary disc. All 27 orange dots are within the first 10 million years and range in silica composition. The 8 black and 13 purple dots begin to appear around 10 million. The black dots stop around 100 million. The purple dots continue right. The timeline below has the same labels as the plot’s x-axis. A gray band before 100 marks the Moon-forming impact. A gray band before 1000 marks the Late heavy bombardment. 3 blue bands stretch from left to right: Giant planet formation, Terrestrial planet formation, and Giant planet migration/orbital instability.]

Galaxies in a cosmic house of mirrors

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0200

This NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month features galaxies in incredible detail that have been warped and multiplied like they’ve stepped into a house of mirrors. The brilliant golden galaxies splashed across this image belong to a galaxy cluster called MACS J0454.1-0300. The orange galaxies concentrated on one side of the cluster are not actually part of the cluster; these galaxies are much farther away from us than the galaxies that make up MACS J0454.1-0300.

MACS J0454.1-0300 is itself incredibly distant: the light from these galaxies has been travelling to us for so long that we’re seeing the cluster as it was when the Universe was about 8 billion years old. While this galaxy cluster is a valuable scientific target in its own right, the real stars of this image are the galaxies that appear warped and stretched, like a painting that has been smeared by a giant hand.

These strange-looking galaxies are of immense interest to astronomers. The way these galaxies look is the result of gravitational lensing, in which the enormous mass of a foreground object such as a galaxy cluster bends and magnifies the light from a more distant object in the background. Gravitational lensing allows astronomers to observe galaxies, star clusters and even individual stars that are too far away for our telescopes to see under normal conditions. While the large, orange galaxies appear obviously distorted, look carefully at some of the small reddish background galaxies throughout this picture: even at the very edges of the frame, there are galaxies whose images have been bent into tiny arcs by MACS J0454.1-0300’s gravity.

In addition to making galaxies look stretched out or bent, gravitational lensing can also make us see double — or quadruple. Under certain conditions, multiple images of the same galaxy can appear. It’s rare to see four or more images of the same galaxy, as this requires the position of the background object and the shape of the massive foreground object to be just so. Because the requirements are so particular, this phenomenon is only seen in 10–20% of galaxy clusters.

Researchers spotted this rare configuration twice in the Webb observations of MACS J0454.1-0300, marking the first time this phenomenon has been seen more than once in the same galaxy cluster. The gravitationally lensed areas show multiple images of galaxies from when the Universe was young: a group of galaxies 2 billion years after the Big Bang, and a single galaxy just 800 million years old after the Big Bang. The galaxy group appears to be going through a merger, resulting in an enormous burst of star formation.

Astronomers have also identified individual bright ‘knots’ within these gravitationally lensed areas, corresponding to regions as small as 5 light-years across. These tiny clumps appear magnified by a factor of more than 300, in some cases.

A NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of this same cluster was released in 2014. Take a moment to compare the two images; the difference between them is dramatic. Start by finding the similarities: the two bright stars from within our own galaxy that happened to make it into the picture, and the fuzzy white galaxy near the centre of the cluster. The new Webb image reveals hundreds of galaxies missing from the earlier image. These galaxies were there all along, but Webb is much more sensitive to their much redder light.

The data behind this image come from two observing programmes (#5058, PI: Furtak; #6882, PI: Fujimoto) that leverage the ability of massive galaxy clusters to bring distant objects into view. One programme searches for individual gravitationally lensed stars in the first billion years of the Universe. This programme will monitor a particular gravitationally lensed galaxy in the MACS J0454.1-0300 field of view for signs of hugely magnified single stars. The second programme aims to observe a large sample of galaxy clusters at many wavelengths, helping researchers study the onset star formation and the evolution of early galaxies.

[Image Description: A massive galaxy cluster, made of many golden elliptical galaxies with the largest, brightest one in the centre. Heavily distorted orange galaxies appear all around the cluster, the largest concentrated in a large arc around the cluster's centre; these are images of very distant galaxies, created by gravitational lensing. A few galaxies are large and bluish-white in colour; bright, nearby stars are the same colour.]

Collage of cutouts of star-forming region IC 348 (Webb NIRCam image)

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0200

This collage features a collection of cutouts from the massive star-forming region IC 348. Each of these six panels showcase features of interest that are visible throughout the field.

1: Star embedded in a nebula — This small portion of the field contains two stars deeply embedded in a cloud of gas and dust. The large star’s shorter-wavelength infrared light is absorbed by the dust, leaving it brightest at longer wavelengths, which are coloured orange; the same dust absorption creates the silhouettes in the image.

2: Central star cluster — The centre of IC 348 is dominated by wispy curtains of gas that form a large loop. Winds from the many stars sculpt the clouds of interstellar gas and dust, and the clouds reflect the light from the cluster’s stars — what is known as a reflection nebula.

3: Stars and faint outflows — Here on the outskirts of the field, two stars shine out of clouds of gas and dust. The stars appear equally bright, but the orange one is more deeply embedded. Thin red arcs and blotches near the stars are hot, glowing shockwaves created by fast-moving outbursts from the stars.

4: Herbig-Haro objects — This relatively small region near the top of the image is packed with long, glowing outflows and bold colours in the waves of gas and dust. The outflows, known as Herbig-Haro objects, are created by stellar winds or jets from protostars ploughing into the thick clouds around them. No less than three objects in this area have previously been the subjects of their own images, demonstrating how rich an area of star formation this is.

5: Gravitational lensing — This tiny object, at first glance appearing almost like a planet with a ring, is in fact two galaxies. The blue one is closer to us, and the orange galaxy is very far away behind it but lined up just right. This causes the light from the orange galaxy to be bent by the gravity of the blue galaxy, creating a magnified, warped image.

6: Spiral galaxies — Some of the more prominent galaxies that can be seen behind the clouds of gas and dust. While the IC 348 region is around 1000 light-years from Earth, these galaxies are millions of light-years away, and the even smaller galaxies that appear as coloured dots in the background are up to billions of light-years distant.

[Image description: A collage, with three large panels along the top and four smaller ones on the bottom. The middle panel on top shows star-forming region IC 348. Six boxes are drawn around features in the region, numbered 1–6. The other six panels are numbered and show these features enlarged. They include bright stars throughout the nebula, protostars shooting jets of gas, a distant spiral galaxy, and a gravitational lens.]

Star-forming region IC 348 (NIRCam image)

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0200

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope recently observed IC 348, a star-forming region just 1000 light-years away. This is one of the largest Webb images released to the public so far. This near-infrared vista of IC 348 reveals a collection of objects called brown dwarfs, which are smaller than the smallest stars.

Researchers used the unparalleled sensitivity of Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) to track down the smallest brown dwarfs in IC 348, which weigh in at just just twice the mass of Jupiter. These are the least massive brown dwarfs known, and their existence poses challenges to models of how stars form.

In addition to the brown dwarfs and young stars scattered across the swirling nebula, this image provides a unique perspective on a handful of protostars, which can be seen in the upper-right corner. These protostars are ejecting powerful jets that have crashed into the gas and dust surrounding them, creating luminous regions called Herbig-Haro objects.

[Image Description: A star-forming region. It is blanketed in thick clouds of gas and dust, millions of kilometres across, that form swirling patterns. Bright stars are scattered throughout the clouds, with the densest cluster situated in the centre of the scene. Each is crowned with six long points created by the optics of the telescope’s mirrors. In the upper right, a couple of hidden stars blast out long, glowing jets of material.]

IC 348 Crop: Central star cluster

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0200

This image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope shows the central portion of the star cluster IC 348. The wispy curtains filling the image are interstellar gas and dust reflecting the light from the cluster’s stars — what is known as a reflection nebula. The material also includes carbon-containing molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. The bright star closest to the centre of the frame is actually a pair of type B stars in a binary system, the most massive stars in the cluster. Winds from these stars may help sculpt the large loop seen on the right side of the field of view.

You can view the full image from which this crop was taken here.

[Image description: Wispy, criss-crossing filaments fill the scene, creating dense and highly textured layers of gas in colours from green to yellow to orange and pink. Above the centre, the filaments join into a large loop, while below they bend and create wave-like curves. Dozens of bright stars are layered atop the gas, a pair in the centre being particularly bright; all sport six long and two short spikes of light, created by the telescope’s optics.]

IC 348 Crop: Spiral galaxies

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0200

This image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope shows a few of the spiral galaxies that can be seen behind the clouds of gas that make up the nebula around IC 348. The nebula is located around 1000 light-years from Earth: these spiral galaxies are a thousand times further away than that, being millions of light-years distant. The small, featureless dots in the background are further galaxies, and these are a thousand times further away again, at distances up to billions of light-years from Earth.

You can view the full image from which this crop was taken here.

[Image description: A dark region of space. In the centre lies a relatively purple-coloured spiral galaxy, with two thick, loosely-wound arms that each end in a long tail. Two smaller, more irregularly-shaped spiral galaxies in similar colours are visible in the corner. Dozens of distant galaxies in the background are little more than misshapen, colourful dots; there are also a few stars with bright cores.]

IC 348 Crop: Gravitational lensing

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0200

This image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope shows an example of gravitational lensing hidden in the background of the star-forming region IC 348.

The round blue dot in the centre of the image is a distant galaxy. The orange line which arcs around it on one side, and the small orange loop touching its centre, are both images of another, even more distant galaxy behind it. Because this orange galaxy lines up just right behind the blue galaxy, the blue galaxy acts like a lens: its gravity bends the path of the light emitted by the orange galaxy, creating these warped images.

You can view the full image from which this crop was taken here.

[Image description: A close-up of a galaxy among the greenish gas clouds of IC 348. The galaxy appears like a round blue dot. An orange line bends around the bottom-right of the dot, appearing to warp to avoid touching it; a second, smaller orange line forms a loop touching the core of the galaxy. These two lines are images of the same distant background galaxy, made by gravitational lensing.]

IC 348 Crop: Herbig-Haro objects

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0200

This image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope shows stars and protostars in the vicinity of the star cluster IC 348. The long, narrow object that is oriented horizontally on the left side of this image is HH 797, which was featured previously as a Webb Picture of the Month. Upon close inspection, this source is revealed to be two protostars with nearly parallel outflows. To the right and oriented diagonally is the propeller-shaped source HH 211, which features both narrow jets and broader outflows, and was also showcased in a previous image release.

The glowing orange area directly above HH 797, named LLRL 54361, has been the subject of an image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope; it’s thought to host two further protostars. A number of other more- and less-embedded protostars lurk in this nebula, contributing to the edges and wave-like patterns in the clouds, as well as further spectacular glowing outflows.

The wispy curtains in the bottom left of the image are interstellar material reflecting the light from the cluster’s stars — what is known as a reflection nebula. The material also includes carbon-containing molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs.

You can view the full image from which this crop was taken here.

[Image description: A star-forming nebula that contains young stars called protostars. Two of these protostars are shooting out long jets that are colliding with the nebula, creating glowing, colourful outflows. A few other protostars create orange and red areas in the nebula. Most of the image is covered by blue gas, with brighter areas, denser clouds and dark gaps; the bottom-left corner contains greenish-yellow gas.]

IC 348 Crop: Stars and faint outflows

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0200

This image showcases a portion of the larger IC 348 field to highlight two stars among the outskirts of the nebula. These two stars appear equally-sized, because they are similarly bright, but one is orange while the other is blue. The reason for this is that the orange star is more deeply embedded in the clouds of interstellar gas and dust; these clouds block more of the shorter-wavelength infrared light that the star emits, leaving the longer wavelengths, which are coloured orange in this image. The other star is less shrouded, so the shorter and longer infrared wavelengths combine to make it appear whitish-blue. While it doesn’t look like there’s a lot of gas or dust here, the thin red arcs and faint blotches that can be seen around the stars are shockwaves made in that gas. Outbursts from the young stars crash into the interstellar gas, compressing and heating it up until it glows.

The bright lines appearing to radiate out from these stars are a type of distortion that arises from the optical design of the telescope. Called diffraction spikes, they are created because the intense light from the unresolved target is bent (“diffracted”) very slightly at the edges of Webb’s hexagonal mirror panels and around one of the struts that hold up its secondary mirror. This distinctive six-plus-two-pointed pattern is the same for any image taken by Webb. For diffraction spikes to appear, the light source has to be very bright and very concentrated, so they’re most often seen on stars.

You can view the full image from which this crop was taken here.

[Image description: Two bright stars, one golden and one more white in colour, in a mostly-dark area of space. Diffuse, dark blue gas clouds curl around the stars, with dark bands of empty space cutting through the clouds. Thin red arcs near the stars are hot shockwaves in the gas. The background is filled with many small objects in blue, green or yellow; most are distant galaxies.]

IC 348 Crop: Star embedded in a nebula

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0200

This image showcases a portion of the larger IC 348 field to highlight two stars embedded within a cloud of gas and dust. The central star, despite being brighter and appearing larger than its companion to the lower-right, is in fact more deeply wrapped in the clouds of gas and dust. These clouds block more of the shorter-wavelength infrared light that the star emits, leaving it brightest in the longer wavelengths, which in this image are coloured orange. The smaller star is less shrouded, so the shorter and longer infrared wavelengths combine to make it appear whitish-blue. The galaxies seen in the background are thousands of times further away from Earth than these two stars.

You can view the full image from which this crop was taken here.

[Image description: A star embedded within a cloud of gas and dust. The star is a very bright point in the centre of the image. It radiates six long and two short orange spikes of light, caused by the telescope's optics. Most of the gas behind it is blue and wispy, but below the star is a patch of bold yellow and red gas in a butterfly-shape. A few glowing shockwaves made by fast-moving gas surround the star. Small, whitish galaxies appear in the distance.]

Arp 263 (crop)

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0200

The latest ESA/Webb Picture of the Month is a new, infrared look into the strange final phase of a galactic merger. Arp 263, an irregular galaxy, lies in the constellation Leo at a relatively nearby distance of around 25 million light-years.

This version of the image is adjusted for comparison with Hubble’s view of Arp 263 — see them together here.

[Image Description: An irregular galaxy, appearing like a broad band of tiny stars. It is much denser on one side, with a faint cloud of gas among the stars. Clumps of brighter points are newly formed stars, with the largest lights being star clusters. Shells of glowing orange dust surround the clumps. A foreground star appears very large and bright. A few distant galaxies appear in the background.]

ESAWebb Images

Cat’s Head Nebula (Hubble WFC3, Webb NIRCam, and Webb MIRI images)

Cat’s Head Nebula (Webb MIRI)

Cat’s Head Nebula (Webb NIRCam image)

Cat’s Head Nebula (Webb NIRCam image)

Cat’s Head Nebula (Hubble WFC3 image)

Cat’s Head Nebula (Webb NIRCam image)

Stars brewing in a nebulous cauldron

Links

N159 (wide view)

Links

Farthest Fast Radio Burst host galaxy spectrum

FRB 20240304B (NIRCam annotated image)

FRB 20240304B (NIRCam clean image)

FRB 20240304B (NIRCam image)

NGC 7129 (NIRCam image)

Extreme debris disc (artist’s concept)

Composition of extreme debris discs across time

Galaxies in a cosmic house of mirrors

Links

Collage of cutouts of star-forming region IC 348 (Webb NIRCam image)

Star-forming region IC 348 (NIRCam image)

IC 348 Crop: Central star cluster

IC 348 Crop: Spiral galaxies

IC 348 Crop: Gravitational lensing

IC 348 Crop: Herbig-Haro objects

IC 348 Crop: Stars and faint outflows

IC 348 Crop: Star embedded in a nebula

Arp 263 (crop)