NASA on Tuesday released additional high-resolution images of space taken from the James Webb Space Telescope, offering some of the most detailed glimpses of large planets, nebulae and distant galaxies ever taken.
Tuesday’s set includes a high-resolution image of Stephan’s Quintet—a group of five galaxies—which is located 290 million light-years away from Earth and is the first such compact galaxy to be discovered by scientists back in 1877.
The James Webb telescope also offered a high-resolution look at the Southern Ring Nebula, which NASA describes as an expanding cloud of gas and dust expelled by a dying star located 2,000 light-years away from Earth.
NASA also showed off an image of WASP-96—a gas giant planet that is half the size of Jupiter and located just outside our solar system—and noted that the James Webb telescope detected evidence of water vapor in its atmosphere.
The final image shown on Tuesday was of the Carina Nebula which, according to NASA, is one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky and is also home to some of the the most luminous stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
Tuesday’s set of images comes after NASA revealed the first image during a White House event on Monday evening in the presence of President Joe Biden.
The image, which is the James Webb telescope’s first “deep field” shot, showed the cluster of galaxies known as SMACS 0723, located approximately 4.6 billion light-years away from the earth.
Speaking at the unveiling of the first image at the White House on Monday evening, President Joe Biden said: “As an international collaboration, this telescope embodies how America leads the world not by the example of our power, but the power of our example. A partnership with others, it symbolizes the relentless spirit of American ingenuity…These images are going to remind the world that America can do big things.”
The $10 billion James Webb Telescope is the most powerful, complex and expensive space telescope ever built. The telescope was designed by NASA in partnership with the European Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency and it was finally launched on December 25 after a string of delays. After launch, the telescope began orbiting the Sun and using its high-resolution infrared sensors to take photos of deep space. NASA administrator Bill Nelson said the telescope will take images as far as 13.5 billion light-years away, offering a glimpse into the early days of the universe. The high-resolution telescope may also offer fresh insights into the possibility of life in other parts of the universe.