**Higher resolution is here: www.flickr.com/photos/nasawebbtelescope/52259221868/in/da... **
A star is born!
Behind the curtain of dust and gas in these “Cosmic Cliffs” are previously hidden baby stars, now uncovered by Webb. We know — this is a show-stopper. Just take a second to admire the Carina Nebula in all its glory: nasa.gov/webbfirstimages/
Webb’s new view gives us a rare peek into stars in their earliest, rapid stages of formation. For an individual star, this period only lasts about 50,000 to 100,000 years.
Image Description:
The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The smallest of these are small, distant, and faint points of light. The largest of these appear larger, closer, brighter, and more fully resolved with 8-point diffraction spikes. The upper portion of the image is blueish, and has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orangish cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The stars vary in color, the majority of which have a blue or orange hue. The cloud-like structure of the nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys – an appearance very similar to a mountain range. Three long diffraction spikes from the top right edge of the image suggest the presence of a large star just out of view.
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
Tags: jwst webb James Webb Space Telescope
A star is born!
Behind the curtain of dust and gas in these “Cosmic Cliffs” are previously hidden baby stars, now uncovered by Webb. We know — this is a show-stopper. Just take a second to admire the Carina Nebula in all its glory: nasa.gov/webbfirstimages/
Webb’s new view gives us a rare peek into stars in their earliest, rapid stages of formation. For an individual star, this period only lasts about 50,000 to 100,000 years.
Image Description:
The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The smallest of these are small, distant, and faint points of light. The largest of these appear larger, closer, brighter, and more fully resolved with 8-point diffraction spikes. The upper portion of the image is blueish, and has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orangish cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The stars vary in color, the majority of which have a blue or orange hue. The cloud-like structure of the nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys – an appearance very similar to a mountain range. Three long diffraction spikes from the top right edge of the image suggest the presence of a large star just out of view.
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
Tags: jwst webb james space telescope firstImages bestof recentbestof topImages NGC 3324 Carina Nebula
Need a new perspective?Sometimes, seeing clearly requires looking at things with a fresh set of eyes. When you’re able to peer through the dust, that’s when you can reveal even more stars. ✨
Download full-resolution images of the Carina Nebula, as seen by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and by Webb!
👉 Hubble: bit.ly/3OnC7id
👉 Webb: bit.ly/3OrP22G
Want posters and zoomable versions of Webb's first images? Find them here: bit.ly/3v9F2UQ
Image description:
Image of a portion of the Carina Nebula, vertically divided in half between Hubble's view on the left and Webb's view on the right. A "Hubble" label in small white text is to the right edge of the Hubble view, while a "Webb" label in the same font is to the right edge of the Webb view. Both the Hubble and Webb views feature a a blue “sky” dotted with stars and an orange-brown “mountain range” below it. Starting with the Hubble view, the blue portion is a more faded color and mixed with shades of green. Some pink points of starlight, each with 4 diffraction spikes, poke through the blue. The orange-brown portion is dusty, and the few stars that can be seen are only tiny dots of pinkish red. The mountainous area also features a prominent knob sticking out on the left side. In the Webb view, we see that Webb’s blue portion is much more rich, dark and vivid in color. Compared to Hubble, a multitude of stars in shades of light orange and blue are visible, including two giant six-pointed stars on the very right. The orange-brown portion is also dotted with stars galore, each with a set of 6 diffraction spikes. This is because Webb's infrared vision is able to cut through the curtain of dust, revealing many more stars in the landscape.
Tags: jwst webb hubble carina nebula
A star is born!
Behind the curtain of dust and gas in these “Cosmic Cliffs” are previously hidden baby stars, now uncovered by Webb. We know — this is a show-stopper. Just take a second to admire the Carina Nebula in all its glory: nasa.gov/webbfirstimages/
Webb’s new view gives us a rare peek into stars in their earliest, rapid stages of formation. For an individual star, this period only lasts about 50,000 to 100,000 years.
Two cameras are better than one, as seen in this combined view from Webb’s NIRCam & MIRI! In the near-infrared, we see hundreds of stars and background galaxies. Meanwhile, the mid-infrared shows us dusty planet-forming disks (in red and pink) around young stars.
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
Image description
A composite image of the Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula, created with the Webb telescope’s NIRCam and MIRI instruments. Pinkish brown clouds of gas and dust dominate the foreground of the image, glittering with young stars. Behind the glowing, mountainous clouds, the sky appears navy blue, with shining stars and galaxies.
Tags: jwst webb james space telescope firstImages recentbestof bestof topImages
Galactic high five!
In the James Webb Space Telescope’s image of Stephan’s Quintet, we see 5 galaxies, 4 of which interact. (The left galaxy is actually much closer to us than the rest of the group!) These colliding galaxies are pulling and stretching each other in a gravitational dance. Webb will revolutionize our knowledge of star formation and gas interactions within: nasa.gov/webbfirstimages/
This mosaic, a composite of near and mid-infrared data, is Webb’s largest image to date, covering an area of the sky 1/5 of the Moon’s diameter (as seen from Earth). It contains more than 150 million pixels and is constructed from about 1,000 image files.
Image Description: A group of five galaxies that appear close to each other in the sky: two in the middle, one toward the top, one to the upper left, and one toward the bottom. Four of the five appear to be touching. One is somewhat separated. In the image, the galaxies are large relative to the hundreds of much smaller (more distant) galaxies in the background. All five galaxies have bright white cores. Each has a slightly different size, shape, structure, and coloring. Scattered across the image, in front of the galaxies are number of foreground stars with diffraction spikes: bright white points, each with eight bright lines radiating out from the center.
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
Tags: jwst webb james space telescope recentbestif bestof topImages firstImages Stephan's Quintet HCG 92