In pictures: 'A view of the universe never seen before'

NASA on Tuesday began releasing the next wave of images from the James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful observatory ever placed in orbit.

"This morning, folks across this planet are going to see the images captured by this telescope, and every image is a new discovery," said NASA administrator Bill Nelson.

"Each will give humanity a view of the universe that we've never seen before."

The images show a Carina Nebula, or stellar nursery, a sphere of gas around a dying star and a "quintet" of galaxies locked in a dance of close encounters.

This image released by NASA on July 12, 2022, from the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) shows never-before-seen details of Stephan’s Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies. Photo: AFP

On Monday, Webb revealed the clearest image to date of the early universe, going back 13 billion years.

One new image on Tuesday showed water vapor in the atmosphere of a faraway gas planet. The spectroscopy -- an analysis of light that reveals detailed information -- was of planet WASP-96 b, which was discovered in 2014.

Nearly 1,150 light-years from Earth, WASP-96 b is about half the mass of Jupiter and zips...