星辰大海图片(来自宇宙深处的星辰大海，这5张照片刷爆朋友圈)

The Southern Ring shows a planetary nebula caused by a dying star. /NASA/Reuters

当地时间7月12日，美国国家航空航天局（NASA）发布詹姆斯·韦伯空间望远镜拍摄的图像，包括5张全彩宇宙深空图像和1张光谱数据图，图像展示了南环星云、船底座星云和史蒂芬五重星系等。

NASA公布韦布空间望远镜

拍摄的首批全彩图像

这是韦伯太空望远镜迄今拍摄到的宇宙最深处、最清晰的照片。韦伯望远镜首批全彩宇宙图像这台人类史上最昂贵的天文望远镜到底拍到了什么？将于明年发射的中国巡天空间望远镜会比它更厉害吗？来听CGTN记者吴磊的解读！

Images of a "stellar nursery," a roaring sphere of gas around a dying star, and a "cosmic dance" between galaxies are among several breathtaking pictures taken by U.S. space agency NASA's $10bn James Webb Space Telescope, released today.

The first picture had already been unveiled on Monday at the White House, with U.S. President Joe Biden saying "We can see possibilities no one has ever seen before. We can go to places no one has ever gone before."

The key objectives of Webb's telescope - the successor to the famous Hubble Space Telescope – include taking pictures of the very first stars to shine in the universe from more than 13.5 billion years ago and finding habitable planets beyond our solar system.

The 'Cosmic Cliffs' of the Carina Nebula. It's one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky, roughly 7,600 light-years from Earth. Nebulae are stellar nurseries. /NASA/Reuters

On Tuesday, four more photos were published. With one exception, the latest images showed parts of the universe seen by other telescopes. But the sheer power of Webb's telescope, distant location off Earth and use of the infrared light spectrum exhibited them in new light.

"Every image is a new discovery and each will give humanity a view of the humanity that we've never seen before," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, showing "the formation of stars, devouring black holes."

"We've really changed the understanding of our universe," added European Space Agency director general Josef Aschbacher.

Stephan's Quintet is a collection of five galaxies, which is about 290 million light-years away. /NASA/Reuters

The European and Canadian space agencies joined NASA in building and launching the powerful telescope.

Amber Straughn, Webb deputy project scientist, said: "Today for the first time we're seeing brand new stars that were previously completely hidden from our view."

"We see examples of bubbles and cavities and jets that are being blown out by these newborn stars, and even some galaxies lurking... We see some examples of structures that we don't even know what they are. The data is so rich."

Dr Jane Rigby, NASA operations project scientist for the Webb mission, revealed how the images had gone down with Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

"We really geeked out," Rigby said. "We had a closed door session where we walked through all the images and they were so thrilled."

The first color image light from galaxies more than 13bn years ago was released at the White House on Monday. /NASA/Reuters