Galaxies are amazing to look at, but these two? Talk about photogenic! These two galaxies are known as UGC 1810 and UGC 1813. Yeah, that’s pretty boring, and we prefer the common name – the Rose Galaxies. The larger of the two is pulling the smaller into its gravitational pull, forming what looks like a flower.
The galaxies are comprised of super bright and young blue stars, which helped the Hubble spot it originally. It's uncommon for two galaxies to interact this way. Eventually, the smaller galaxy will likely be consumed and overwhelmed by the larger one, but we can just enjoy the view until then.
No, not the Death Star! Although, it does look a little like the Death Star when it exploded in Star Wars. Scientists call this star the “celebrity star” because it’s one of the brightest in our entire galaxy. Behind all the gas and space dust lies a slightly sadder story of a star struggling to survive.
The star is waging a tug-of-war between gravity and radiation to avoid self-destruction, but it’s losing the battle. It’s a rare type of star that epitomizes “live fast, die young.” Compared to our sun (which will survive around 10 billion years), this one will only last a few million years at best.
To us, this looks like a creepy eye that’s staring at Earth from space – excuse me while it replaces my sleep paralysis demon. The reality of the situation isn’t much better. This is a young planetary nebula that was created after the death of a Sun-like star. That raises the question: is this what our sun will look like one day?
Thankfully, that isn’t something we need to think about any time soon. Our sun will last around five billion more years, which is when the hydrogen will begin to run out. The good news is that our sun is in the most stable part of its life cycle since the birth of our solar system.
The birthing of a new star isn’t a calm thing. It’s turbulent and violent, but all that activity is what lights up our night skies. In this image, the Hubble spotted a dark cloud of dust that surrounds a newborn star. The baby star is shooting out two huge twin jets into space, announcing that it's there.
We better keep this reveal a secret or gender reveal parties are gonna get more extreme. In all seriousness, it’s easy to see how stunning and brutal the birth of a new star can be. It takes a ton of hydrogen to burn that bright, and a star like this? Well, it could blow through it’s reserves pretty fast burning like that!
This breathtaking landscape of mountains and valleys isn't on Earth. It's a star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. With its new infrared technology, Webb was able to capture areas of star birth we couldn’t see before.
These cliffs are actually the edge of a giant, gaseous cavity carved out by intense ultraviolet radiation from young stars. Some of the most stunning works of art are created by the universe itself, no painter required.
Webb's level of detail puts Hubble images to shame. This looks like an abstract painting you'd find in a modern art museum, but it's actually the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. This is the closest star-forming region to Earth, a cosmic nursery where new suns are just beginning to ignite.
Captured by Webb, this image reveals the intricate details of this star formation. The vibrant colors highlight different elements like hydrogen and dust, making this celestial masterpiece both stunning and scientifically rich.
This isn't a special effect from a sci-fi blockbuster, but a real-life cosmic event. At the center of the Southern Ring Nebula, a dying star has been sending out waves of gas and dust for thousands of years, creating this stunning spectacle.
The dimmer star at the center is the one responsible for all this beautiful destruction, while its brighter companion simply orbits. Two cameras on Webb have captured the latest images of it that you see here from 2,500 light-years away, where Webb discovered the star covered in dust.
All we see here is a cosmic pile-up, and that's not far from the truth. This is Stephan's Quintet, a group of five galaxies. Four of them are locked in a cosmic dance, so close they are distorting each other with gravity.
Stephan’s Quintet is Webb’s largest image to date, pieced together from over 1,000 image files. This massive mosaic reveals intricate details of five galaxies, showcasing Webb’s incredible infrared imaging power like never before and providing scientists with new information about galaxy evolution.
