James Webb Space Telescope's 25 Best Images Mark Its Fourth Anniversary
Celebrating its fourth anniversary, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) presents 25 remarkable images that reflect both scientific and artistic milestones. This $10 billion observatory, a collaboration between NASA, ESA, and CSA, features highlights such as the Pillars of Creation, the Tarantula Nebula, and Messier 74 (Phantom Galaxy) from August 2022. Additionally, it captured images of planets within our Solar System, including Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn. Among its deep-space observations are Messier 82, SMACS 0723, the Southern Ring Nebula, Stephan's Quintet, the Carina Nebula, Rho Ophiuchi, NGC 346, the Cartwheel Galaxy, MoM-z14, JADES GOODS-South, NGC 3256, the Red Spider Nebula, Messier 77, NGC 2090, Westerlund 1, I Zwicky 18, NGC 6822, and the galaxy cluster SDSS J1226+2152.
Key facts
- JWST celebrates its fourth birthday on July 12, 2026.
- The $10 billion telescope is a collaboration between NASA, ESA, and CSA.
- Messier 74 was imaged in August 2022 using MIRI.
- The Pillars of Creation image combines MIRI and NIRCam data.
- SMACS 0723 required 12.5 hours of exposure and is the highest-resolution deep-space photo.
- MoM-z14 is the farthest galaxy ever observed, existing 280 million years after the Big Bang.
- JADES GOODS-South image contains 45,000 individual galaxies.
- NGC 2090's distance was revised from 37 to 40 million light-years using Webb data.
Entities
Artists
- Alyssa Pagan
- Joseph DePasquale
- J. Schmidt
- J. DePasquale
- A. Pagan
- A. M. Koekemoer
- R. Hueso
- I. de Pater
- T. Fouchet
- L. Fletcher
- M.H. Wong
- Macarena Garcia Marin
- N. Rowe-Gurney
- Matthew Tiscareno
- Matthew Hedman
- Maryame El Moutamid
- Mark Showalter
- Leigh Fletcher
- Heidi Hammel
- A. Bolatto
- K. Pontoppidan
- Olivia Jones
- Guido De Marchi
- Margaret Meixner
- Nolan Habel
- Laura Lenkić
- Laurie Chu
- Rohan Naidu
- Brant Robertson
- Ben Johnson
- Sandro Tacchella
- Marcia Rieke
- Daniel Eisenstein
- L. Armus
- A. Evans
- J. H. Kastner
- A. Leroy
- M. Zamani
- M. G. Guarcello
- A. Hirschauer
- Fritz Zwicky
- J. Rigby
Institutions
- NASA
- ESA
- CSA
- STScI
- PetaPixel
- SETI Institute
- University of Idaho
- Cornell University
- University of Leicester
- AURA
- UK ATC
- ESTEC
- USRA
- NASA Ames
- MIT
- UC Santa Cruz
- CfA
- University of Cambridge
- University of Arizona
- Rochester Institute of Technology
- INAF-OAPA
- EWOCS team
- JWST TEMPLATES team
- PHANGS-JWST Team
- Webb ERO Production Team
Locations
- United States
- Europe
- Canada
- Earth
- Jupiter
- Uranus
- Neptune
- Saturn
- Milky Way
- Local Group
- Solar System