Photos: James Webb Space Telescope begins new era of astronomy

Cartwheel Galaxy: The James Webb Space Telescope has peered through time and huge amounts of dust to capture a new image of the Cartwheel Galaxy, revealing the spinning ring of colour in unprecedented clarity, NASA and the European Space Agency said. Located around 500 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Sculptor, the Cartwheel gained its shape during a spectacular head-on collision between two galaxies.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre (GSFC), United States: 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 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. Webb revealed the clearest image to date of the early universe, going back 13 billion years.

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. "For the first time we're seeing brand new stars that were previously completely hidden from our view," said NASA astrophycisist Amber Straughn.

Webb also revealed never before seen details of Stephan's Quintet, a grouping of five galaxies including four that experience repeated close encounters, which provide insights into how early galaxies formed at the start of the universe. The telescope dramatically captures shockwaves as one of the galaxies smashes through the center of the cluster.

A dim star at the center of the Southern Ring Nebula was revealed for the first time to be cloaked in dust, as it spews out rings of gas and dust in its death throes. Understanding the molecules present in such stellar graveyards can help scientists learn more about the process of stellar death.