On Tuesday, 12 July 2022, NASA released new full-colour images taken from James Webb Space Telescope. It released the images of the Southern Ring, Planetary Nebula, showing a dying star clacked by dust and layers of light. Another image shows Stephan’s Quintet, a visual grouping of 5 galaxies. An image revealing baby stars in Carina Nebula were also released. 

NASA called the release of photographs “The Dawn of New Era in Astronomy ” in partnership with ESA(European Space Agency) and CSA(Canadian Space Agency). The pictures were released during a Televised Broadcast. As per the official website of NASA, these images represent the first wave of full-colour scientific images and the official beginning of the James Webb Space Telescope general science operations.

Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate said “It took decades of drive and perseverance to get us here, and I am immensely proud of the Webb team. These first images show us how much we can accomplish when we come together behind a shared goal, to solve the cosmic mysteries that connect us all. It’s a stunning glimpse of the insights yet to come.”

Greg Robinson, Webb program director at NASA Headquarters also added “We are elated to celebrate this extraordinary day with the world. The beautiful diversity and incredible detail of the Webb telescope’s images and data will have a profound impact on our understanding of the universe and inspire us to dream big.”

Webb’s first observations were selected by a group of representatives from NASA, ESA, CSA, and the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Stephan’s Quintet: Webb telescope captured a compact group of galaxies, located in the constellation Pegasus, pierced through the shroud of dust surrounding the centre of one galaxy, to reveal the velocity and composition of the gas near its supermassive black hole. Now, scientists can get a rare look, in unprecedented detail, at how interacting galaxies are triggering star formation in each other and how the gas in these galaxies is being disturbed.

Southern Ring Nebula: This planetary nebula, an expanding cloud of gas that surrounds a dying star, is approximately 2,000 light-years away. The telescope used its powerful infrared eyes to bring a second dying star into full view for the first time. From birth to death as a planetary nebula, the Webb telescope can explore the expelling shells of dust and gas of ageing stars that may one day become a new star or planet.

Stephan’s Quintet: Webb telescope captured a compact group of galaxies, located in the constellation Pegasus, pierced through the shroud of dust surrounding the centre of one galaxy, to reveal the velocity and composition of the gas near its supermassive black hole. Now, scientists can get a rare look, in unprecedented detail, at how interacting galaxies are triggering star formation in each other and how the gas in these galaxies is being disturbed.

WASP-96b (spectrum): This is a detailed observation of a hot, puffy planet outside our solar system that reveals the clear signature of water, along with evidence of haze and clouds that previous studies of this planet did not detect. With the telescope’s first detection of water in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, it will now set out to study hundreds of other systems to understand what other planetary atmospheres are made of.

Carina Nebula:  The Webb telescope looking at the ‘Cosmic Cliffs’ in the Carina Nebula unveils the earliest, rapid phases of star formation that were previously hidden. Looking at this star-forming region in the southern constellation Carina, as well as others like it, the James Webb Space Telescope can see newly forming stars and study the gas and dust that made them.