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The 10 Best James Webb Space Telescope Photos (So Far)

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of James Webb Space Telescope The service launched on July 12, 2022, marking its two-year anniversary. To celebrate, we’re sharing 10 of Webb’s best photos to date.

Before diving into a set of images, we need to know exactly why it’s worthy of inclusion. Ultimately, it’s all about balancing beauty with scientific interest. Webb has taken hundreds of incredible photos, all fascinating in some way, but we couldn’t include them all. To be included in this list, an image must be visually interesting, scientifically compelling, and express something in a way that no other telescope can. Webb has a unique talent for awesomeness, and these images all reflect that.

Let’s get started.

Alp 142

A great place to start is a new image selected by the James Webb Space Telescope team to mark Webb’s second anniversary in space. The image shows a distorted spiral galaxy known as Penguin and a compact, egg-shaped elliptical galaxy. The interacting galaxies are in what NASA describes as a “lively embrace,” with the two working together to form a Alp 142.

This image of a cosmic phenomenon captured by the Hubble Space Telescope shows a fantastical, glowing, bird-shaped galaxy against a dark, star-filled space background. Bright sources of light and smaller galaxies can be seen in the background.
According to Webb’s MIRI and NIRCam observations, Arp 142 is located 326 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra. | Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Pillars of Creation

This painting, one of Webb’s earliest works, Pillars of CreationA popular telescope target for many years, Webb shows that its ability to see through cosmic dust could transform humanity’s understanding of deep space, including what we’ve seen so far.

This vivid image of the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula captured by the James Webb Space Telescope shows towering, translucent columns of gas and dust surrounded by a star-filled backdrop in a blend of deep blue, red and gold hues.
The pillars of creation captured by NIRCam are about 6,500 light-years away, making them a fantastic place for scientists to study the early life cycle of stars. | Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI / Image processing Written by Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

El Gordo Cluster of Galaxy

El Gordo (“The Fat One”) Cluster of Galaxy It contains hundreds of galaxies, some of which have never been observed in detail before. El Gordo is a gravitational lens, meaning its powerful gravity magnifies distant galaxies behind it, allowing scientists to look further back in time – in this case lensed galaxies more than 10 billion light years away. Webb is essentially a camera that can look back to the very early days of the universe.

Dense fields of stars and galaxies of various shapes and sizes are scattered across the darkness of space: some stars shine brightly with noticeable diffraction spikes, while many galaxies look like smudges or glowing specks.
El Gordo (NIRCam) Image | Credit (Scientific): Jose M. Diego (IFCA), Brenda Frye (University of Arizona), Patrick Kamieneski (ASU), Tim Carleton (ASU), Rogier Windhorst (ASU) / Credit (Processing): Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Jake Summers (ASU), Jordan CJ D’Silva (UWA), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Aaron Robotham (UWA), Rogier Windhorst (ASU)

Tarantula Nebula

A cosmic web 161,000 light years away from Earth. Tarantula Nebula is the largest and most luminous star-forming region in the Local Group. It is home to some of the hottest and most massive stars in the Universe. It is a crucial region for understanding star formation processes, which are essential for understanding the evolution of the Universe.

This stunning image of the Tarantula Nebula from the James Webb Space Telescope shows a vibrant and intricate tapestry of bright stars, swirling gas, and dust clouds in hues of red, orange, and black against a dark, star-studded background.
Tarantula Nebula | Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team

Phantom Galaxy

This amazing image taken with the Webb Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) shows the central part of Messier 74 (also known as Messier 74). Phantom GalaxyWebb’s unprecedented resolution reveals gas and dust in astonishing detail, as well as the nuclear star cluster at the galaxy’s center, making this region 32 million light-years away a treasure trove of data.

This image of the Phantom Galaxy taken by the James Webb Space Telescope shows dust lanes, bright star clusters, and spiral arms that show dark regions. It has a bright center surrounded by a complex pattern of light and dark.
The Phantom Galaxy (M74) captured by MIRI | Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST team. Thanks to Judy Schmidt

Jupiter

Although Webb is made for seeing far away, it can also see objects closer to you. Neptune and SaturnBut this image of Jupiter, processed by a citizen scientist, shows the gas giant in amazing detail. I like this image better. Another photo of Jupiter taken by Webbbut that’s great too.

A detailed image of Jupiter in space shows the planet's distinct horizontal bands and swirling clouds. Jupiter's Great Red Spot is visible on the right. A thin, faint ring encircles Jupiter, and faint stars are scattered against the dark background.
Jupiter | Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team. Processing by Ricardo Hueso (UPV/EHU) and Judy Schmidt.

Cartwheel Galaxy

This combination Cartwheel Galaxy “Made using Webb’s NIRCam and MIRI instruments, this image is one of the most visually stunning images Webb has ever taken. This chaotic galaxy is giving scientists new information about star formation and black holes, and helping to show how this beautiful galaxy has changed over billions of years.

This image of the Cartwheel Galaxy, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, shows a bright ring structure with a bright central core surrounded by spiral galaxies and other objects against the dark, star-studded backdrop of space.
The Cartwheel Galaxy is 500 million light-years away and is stunningly beautiful. | Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team

Sagittarius C

This image taken by NIRCam: A 50 light-year-wide section of the dense center of the Milky Way GalaxyThere are about 500,000 stars in this image of region Sagittarius C, and researchers are still analyzing the data. While the image is undoubtedly beautiful, it is also one of the best resources yet for the study of protostars.

Image of a star-dense galaxy. To the left of center is a striking blue nebula with complex shapes and stripes. To the right is a cloudy, fiery-looking reddish-orange region. The background is the black of deep space.
Sagittarius C is located at the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way. | Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Samuel Crow (UVA)

Herbig Haro 211

This high-resolution near-infrared image contains Herbig Haro 211 (HH 211)The Webb Space Telescope team explains that Herbig Haro objects form when “stellar winds or jets of gas erupting from a newborn star form shock waves that collide at high speed with nearby gas and dust. Scientists are still in the early stages of studying and understanding Herbig Haro objects, and Webb is making the discovery process much easier.

This image of Herbig Haro 211 taken by the James Webb Space Telescope shows a bright, elongated nebula with pink and purple hues against a dark, starry background. Bright stars with diffraction spikes are visible.
HH211 | Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, Tom Ray (Dublin)

Carina Nebula

The Carina Nebula, also known as the “Cosmic Cliffs,” is a breeding ground for beautiful, sparkling stars. One of Webb’s first five targetsThis incredible landscape is vast – its highest “peak” is about 7 light-years high and is the site of important star birth – but until the discovery of Webb, we had never before seen this dusty cosmic landscape.

A sharp image of a star-forming region in space, showing a bright, colorful nebula with intricate details in the reddish-orange gas and dust clouds. Bright stars are scattered across a deep blue and black space background, highlighting the nebula's outline.
Cosmic Cliffs (Carina Nebula) | Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Image credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI. Additional credits are given in the captions of each image.

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