Space Telescope Science Institute

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STScI is the Science Operations Center for Webb, Hubble, and the upcoming Roman space telescopes, & Mission Operations Center for Webb. We help humanity explore the universe with advanced space telescopes and data archive. news.stsci.edu

A rectangular image with three vertical panels. Each panel shows a different version of the Pillars of Creation. The left panel is labeled “Composite Image (NIRCam and MIRI)” and shows three well-defined finger-like dense clouds reaching toward the top right from a larger cloud on the bottom left. They are grey with streaks of brown, and occasional bright red spots. The background is orange toward the top left and has more purple and blue in the lower half. Stars are scattered through the panel. The center panel, labeled “Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam),” shows the same cloudy figure, but the dense clouds are orange with dark orange streaks. The background is several shades of blue, from navy to bright royal blue. More and brighter stars are scattered through the background than in the composite image. The right panel is labeled “Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI)” and also displays the same finger-like clouds. The dense clouds have a murky bluish gray in this image, giving it more of a darker look. The background is several shades of dark orange with very few stars.
Toward the top left is protostar IRAS 04302+2247, which looks like a butterfly against the black background of space. The nebula’s bright core is split by a narrow, vertical dark band, its “body.” Two rainbow lobes of light radiate outward from the dark band, shaped like butterfly wings. The right lobe is more diffuse and significantly larger than the left lobe, extending toward the bottom right. Numerous background galaxies and stars are visible across the field.
Two galaxies, one of which is distorted into a blue ring that surrounds the other. At the top of the ring, there are three bright, fuzzy orange orbs, which each give off a dim diffraction pattern. At 7 o’clock on the ring, there is a dimmer orange orb. A bright blue dot is in the center of this ring. These objects are set on the black background of space.
Artist's concept of the Beta Pictoris planetary system. One edge of a smooth, dusty disk that looks like clouds extends across the upper third of the image at an angle from 9 o’clock to 2 o’clock. Just below that, in the left third of the image, the star glows white and is small. Just to the left of the star there is a tiny white dot, representing planet Beta Pictoris c. To the right of the star, about twice the distance between Beta Pictoris c and the star is another bright dot, representing planet Beta Pictoris b. A third planet, Beta Pictoris d is larger than the other two, and appears in the right third of the illustration. The planet has subtle orange cloud bands, and the side facing the star is illuminated. Below this planet, the other wispy edge of the dusty disk that circles the star crosses the bottom right corner of the illustration below Beta Pictoris d from 4 o’clock to 7 o’clock. The black background of space is speckled with distant stars.
An illustration. At upper right is an outline of a bright orange circle, with a mostly black interior. The interior represents a black hole. Bright orange lines swirl several times around the circle, with one narrow orange band crossing in front, representing light that is gravitationally lensed by the black hole. To the right, set off by an orange and red haze, are irregular streaks of orange gas that fan out, arcing toward the viewer and all the way to the left. The line becomes more continuous toward the left, ending in what looks like a bright orange teardrop. This teardrop represents a star being shredded as it approached a black hole. Text at the lower right reads, artist’s concept.
A Hubble image of globular star cluster Omega Centauri, which looks like a dense field of stars. Some stars appear a bit larger and brighter than others; most appear blue, orange, or yellow. The colors appear uniformly distributed, like grains of sand. Stars toward the cluster’s center are packed closer together, creating a more luminous area at the globular cluster’s core. A very small red square frame is superimposed on the cluster near the image’s center. It connects to a square pullout in the top-right corner, which shows the outlined area in greater detail. Among the blue- and orange-colored stars is a small blue-white dot highlighted by a small red circle.
Vertical image showing a three-panel film roll. The top image in the panel shows glowing cloud with a distorted ring-like shape. The second panel shows a group of galaxies. The third image shows thousands of distant galaxies. The film panel lays on top of an image showing a bright blue background filled with stars, and a brown and orange rugged cloud. The words “James Webb Space Telescope” and “First Images July 12, 2021” appear in blue boxes overlaying the film panel.
Artist’s concept of a star and planet. The star takes up the majority of the illustration. It is reddish orange with many flares, and the surface resembles lava. The planet appears as a small, dark grey silhouette passing in front of the top left side of the star. The words “Artist’s Concept” appear at the bottom right of the illustration.
A horizontally oriented poster with a portion of the Helix Nebula against a black background. Thousands of orange and gold comet-like pillars stream upward from the bottom, which are organized in an orange, semi-circular arc. The pillars are denser and orange at the bottom, but thinner and more golden toward the top. The background of space is more visible toward the top. A few large blue stars are on the right side. Along the bottom of the poster is a series of thin vertical bars ranging from purple at left to blue, green, yellow, orange, and red at right. These bars are separated slightly, with black in between. Bar colors are brightest at the bottom, fading up to black. Brightness varies from bar to bar, giving the array an undulating feel. At upper right is text that reads, “National Aeronautics and Space Administration” and NASA’s blue, white, and red meatball insignia. Title text appears at lower left that says, “James Webb Space Telescope: Helix Nebula.”
A colorful, glowing nebula that reaches beyond the top and bottom of the image. It is made of translucent clouds of gas: wispy and thin with hard edges in some places, and puffy and opaque in others. Blue, red and yellow colors mix together, showing light emitted by different types of atoms in the hot gas. Bright and point-like stars are scattered across the nebula. The background is black.
A horizontal image of the galaxy Centaurus A stretches across a black background filled with thousands of tiny purple, pink, and white points of light. The galaxy is brightest at its center, where a brilliant white and pale pink glow radiates outward. Eight diffraction spikes extend from the central glow. Delicate loops and wispy ribbons of pink and lavender arc above and below the center of the image in the shape of an ‘S’. A band of gray and white dust in the shape of a parallelogram cuts across the middle of the galaxy. Mottled patches and bright knots are scattered throughout the dusty band. The galaxy’s outer edges fade into soft, cloud-like plumes with feathery textures that stretch toward the left and right sides of the image. Against the surrounding darkness, a few bright foreground stars shine with Webb’s distinctive diffraction spikes, while countless fainter stars create a speckled backdrop.
A diagonal image of the galaxy Centaurus A stretches from the upper left to the lower right against a deep black background filled with countless tiny orange, blue, and white points of light. The galaxy is brightest at its center with a white glowing core. A broad band of golden-orange dust cuts across the middle of the galaxy, forming a distinctive parallelogram shape. The dust in this feature is richly textured, with mottled patches, bright knots, and intricate filaments throughout. Just above the center, delicate peach-colored ribbons trace an S-shaped structure. Rather than appearing smooth, the galaxy has a finely speckled texture created by millions of individually resolved stars, which fill the central regions and extend into the surrounding glow. The galaxy’s outer edges are reddish-orange and dissolve into diffuse, cloud-like plumes with feathery textures that stretch beyond the dust lane. Against the surrounding darkness, several bright foreground stars display Webb’s distinctive diffraction spikes.
A three-panel comparison shows different views of galaxy Centaurus A. The upper left panel is a visible-light image of the full galaxy surrounded by a black sky filled with white, blue, and yellow stars. Centaurus A has a dark dust lane crossing a bright center. A white outlined box marks the region observed by Webb. The upper right panel zooms into that outlined region with a combined near- and mid-infrared view from Webb. The galaxy is oriented diagonally, with a bright white core surrounded by an orange glow. A broad band of golden-orange dust forms a parallelogram across the center, countless tiny stars create a fine speckled texture throughout the image. A dashed outline indicates the smaller region shown below, Webb’s mid-infrared view. The galaxy stretches horizontally across a black background scattered with purple and white stars, the parallelogram glows white. Wispy clouds and looping pink structures surround the center. The galaxy’s edges fade into soft, feathery plumes.
A horizontal image of galaxy Centaurus A stretches across a black background filled with thousands of tiny purple, pink, and white points of light. The galaxy is brightest at its center, where a brilliant white and pale pink glow radiates outward. Delicate loops and wispy ribbons of pink and lavender arc above and below the center of the image in the shape of an ‘S’. A band of gray and white dust in the shape of a parallelogram cuts across the middle of the galaxy. Mottled patches and bright knots are scattered throughout the dusty band. The galaxy’s outer edges fade into soft, cloud-like plumes with feathery textures that stretch toward the left and right sides of the image. Against the surrounding darkness, a few bright foreground stars shine, while countless fainter stars create a speckled backdrop.
Square image of our galaxy’s crowded center. Fluffy brown clouds appear throughout, full of beige and dark brown regions. Bright blue pinpoint-like stars are spread across the scene. The black background of space mainly peeks through in the bottom third.
FS Tau, a star-forming nebula. Clouds of transparent blue and purple gas and dust extend from the top center to center right. Several yellow and white protostars, some showing Webb’s eight-pronged diffraction pattern are dispersed throughout the clouds. Orange wisps and filaments of gas loosely extend diagonally from one of the protostars at the center, from the top left to the bottom right corners. There are numerous, distant yellow and white galaxies strewn about the black background of space.
An orange gas giant planet at left, taking up about one-third of the frame, facing a star, which appears at top right as a far smaller bright dot. The planet has subtle orange cloud bands. The star illuminates the right side of the planet like the crescent of a waxing moon. Both are on the black background of space. The words “artist’s concept” are in the bottom right corner.
A nebula appears like a transparent bubble with a white edge, inside which are two hemispheres of orange clouds being blown out from the center, split by a dark vertical lane, giving the overall appearance of a see-through skull with a brain inside, as seen from above. A few stars appear with eight points, and small background galaxies can be seen around and through the outer bubble.
Crowded field of galaxies on the dark gray background of space. Galaxies appear white, gold, and pale blue. They range in size and brightness, some with distinguishable spiral features or halos, others tiny pinpoints in the distance.
Comparison of three telescope images side by side. The center features in each image are roughly spherical but pixelated, with more intense color saturation in the center. From left to right: smallest sphere is blue and labeled H2O, orange is slightly larger and labeled CO2, and red is largest and labeled CO. A scale bar at the lower left is labeled 1,300 km/1 arcsecond and is about one fourth of each of the three images. A compass at the lower right shows north pointing up to 12 o’clock, east pointing left to 9 o’clock, and a fainter arrow labeled to Sun pointing down to 8 o’clock.
Two interacting ring galaxies. At about 8 o’clock from the center is one of the ring galaxies. This galaxy’s smooth, white ring of stars and galaxies contains a fuzzy, white core. This ring is oriented almost edge-on. The other ring galaxy is at 2 o’clock from the center. This galaxy is seen face-on and is a lot more speckled with blue pockets of star formation, thinner at about 2 o’clock to 6 o’clock and thicker at 6 o’clock to 2 o’clock. At about 7 o’clock is a pocket of red stars and gas. There are a few red and yellow galaxies strewn throughout the black background of space.
Closeup of galaxy labeled MXDFz4.4. The galaxy has a light blue core with some yellow and red blotches around its edges.
Thousands of galaxies appear across the black background of space. The galaxies range in size, from big blobs and larger face-on spirals to short lines and tiny dots. The galaxies appear in a variety of colors, including orange, white, pink, and blue. One prominent foreground star appears toward the lower right with several diffraction spikes. A white square highlights one tiny pinpoint of blue light in the top third.
Illustration shows a closeup of a galaxy forming in the early universe. It appears chaotic and takes up most of the frame. At center is a thick, dark dust lane that spreads out into V shapes opening toward top left and bottom right. Just outside the dust, toward the center, are bright pink and very clumpy areas of star formation. Beyond that is a bluer region, with areas of bright blue star clusters sprinkled in, along with a blue haze that takes the shape of a rough circle. Beyond this is the black background of space.
Composite image of edge-on spiral starburst galaxy Messier 82 as observed by NASA’s James Webb and Hubble space telescopes. Hourglass-shaped plumes of gas are shooting outward from above and below a bright blue-white, disk-shaped center. The plumes are yellow near the galaxy’s bright center, denoting areas of ionized hydrogen gas as observed by Hubble, and gradually become redder as you move farther away. Messier 82 is set against the black background of space, which has many distant galaxies that appear as small white and orange spirals, ovals, and points of light. Toward the right of Messier 82 is a blue-white star with eight-pointed diffraction spikes that are characteristic of Webb.
Thousands of galaxies appear across the black background of space. The galaxies range in size, from big blobs and larger face-on spirals to short lines and tiny dots. The galaxies appear in a variety of colors, including orange, white, pink, and blue. One prominent foreground star appears toward the lower right with several diffraction spikes. A white square highlights one tiny pinpoint of blue light in the top third, which is blown up in a box above it and labeled MXDFz4.4. The galaxy has a light blue core with some yellow and red blotches around its edges.
Comparison of three telescope images side by side. The center features in each image are roughly spherical but pixelated, with more intense color saturation in the center. From left to right: smallest sphere is blue and labeled H2O, orange is slightly larger and labeled CO2, and red is largest and labeled CO. A scale bar at the lower left is labeled 1,300 km/1 arcsecond and is about one fourth of each of the three images. A compass at the lower right shows north pointing up to 12 o’clock, east pointing left to 9 o’clock, and a fainter arrow labeled to Sun pointing down to 8 o’clock.
A ring galaxy, AM 0644-741. A fuzzy, white object, the galaxy’s center, lies at the center of the frame. An asymmetrical and elliptical blue ring of gas and stars surrounds this core, with the ring stretching out toward the right of the frame. Brown filaments of dust and gas run throughout the galaxy. Another large, fuzzy, and white spiral galaxy is toward the top left corner. Brown filaments of dust and gas spiral around it. Many galaxies are strewn throughout the black background of space.
Two people stand in front of a presentation screen at a conference. The screen displays a slide titled "Using PCA to Create Dark Rate Model," with text and graphs. One individual wears a blue backpack and listens to the other, who gestures while speaking. Several people are in the background, engaged in viewing presentations.
Illustration of a planet and a star, labeled artist’s concept at the bottom left. The planet fills more than a quarter of the image to the upper right, with the bright star to its lower left. The planet is white hot on the star side, fading to yellow that mixes with swirls of bright red across its middle, and eventually fading to black on the side most distant from the star. Distant stars dot the background of space, which is black near the edges of the frame.
A dramatically crowded starfield that looks like a just-shaken snow globe. The black background of space, which is clearer at the edges, is covered by thousands of tiny white, orange, and blue points of light, which are stars. The stars are most concentrated in the center, forming a roughly circular orb, and sparser at the edges of the image. Several larger orange stars, particularly those largest near the edges of the frame, have prominent diffraction spikes.
Text image with the title "Surveying the Universe in 4D: Beating Cosmic Variance with Wide-Field Slitless Spectroscopy from HST, JWST, Euclid, Roman, and Beyond." The event dates are August 24 to August 28, 2026. The background features vertical streaks resembling light trails.
A person speaks at a podium with the American Astronomical Society logo, addressing an audience. A presentation screen displays an image of a telescope in space with the text, "Are you ready for Roman? Years in the making, steps from discovery."
An illustration of the Roman Space Telescope on a purple background.