The image showing a cluster of galaxies is a deep field composite showing the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago.
The cosmic cliffs of a stellar nursery, a quintet of galaxies bound in a celestial dance: the James Webb Space Telescope released its next wave of images on Tuesday, heralding a new era of astronomy.
"Every image is a new discovery," said Nasa administrator Bill Nelson.
"Each will give humanity a view of the universe that we've never seen before."
Released one by one, the new images demonstrated the full power of the $10 billion observatory, which uses infrared cameras to gaze into the distant universe in unprecedented clarity.
On Monday, Webb revealed the clearest image to date of the early universe, going back 13 billion years.
The ‘Cosmic Cliffs’ of the Carina Nebula are seen in an image divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion, with data from Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope. Reuters
The latest tranche included the "mountains" and "valleys" of a star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula, dubbed the "Cosmic Cliffs," 7,600 light years away.
A combo image released by Nasa shows a side-by-side comparison of observations of the Southern Ring Nebula in near-infrared light, at left, and mid-infrared light, at right, from the James Webb Telescope. AP
The telescope also found water vapor in the atmosphere of a faraway gas planet. The spectroscopy -- an analysis of light that reveals detailed information — was of planet WASP-96 b, which was discovered in 2014.
Nearly 1,150 light-years from Earth, WASP-96 b is about half the mass of Jupiter and zips around its star in just 3.4 days.
"We've seen the effect of what happens when a planet and its atmosphere passes in front of the star, and the star light filters through the atmosphere, and you can break that down into wavelengths of light," said Nasa's Knicole Colon.
"So you're actually seeing bumps and wiggles that indicate the presence of water vapor in the atmosphere of the planet."
Launched in December 2021 from French Guiana on an Ariane 5 rocket, Webb is orbiting the Sun at a distance of a million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth, in a region of space called the second Lagrange point.
The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) shows never-before-seen details of Stephan Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies. AFP
Here, it remains in a fixed position relative to the Earth and Sun, with minimal fuel required for course corrections.