NASA releases 4 stunning pictures of the cosmos; netizens call it ‘absolutely breathtaking’

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has released stunning pictures of the cosmos. As per NASA, the pictures were captured by NASA Webb and NASA Chandra Xray.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is one of the high-definition telescopes which takes constant observations from space, including images and highly detailed data called spectra. On the other hand, the Chandra X-ray Observatory was launced in 1999 and is world's most powerful X-ray telescope and has eight-times greater resolution. NASA said that the Chandra X-ray Observatory is able to detect sources more than 20-times fainter than any previous X-ray telescope.

In a post on Instagram, the US space agency said that it has released 4 images - Rho Opiuchi, Orion Nebula, Spiral Galaxy NGC 3627, Galaxy Cluster MACS J0416.

Speaking of Rho Opiuchi, NASA said that it is located 390 light-years away from Earth. As per NASA, Rho Ophiuchi is a vast cloud complex containing gas and stars of various sizes and ages. As one of the nearest regions where stars are forming, it offers an excellent opportunity for astronomers to study stellar phenomena. In the image image shared, Chandra’s X-ray data are shown in purple, highlighting young stars that emit intense X-rays while the infrared data from the Webb telescope are displayed in shades of red, yellow, cyan, light blue, and dark blue, showcasing the stunning regions of gas and dust.

The next image shared by NASA is Orion Nebula which is situated within the Milky Way galaxy and is approximately 1,500 light-years from Earth. The Orion nebula is positioned just below the middle star of Orion's "belt" and can be observed with a small telescope. In this particular image, Chandra captures young stars that glow brightly in X-rays, displayed in red, green, and blue, while Webb highlights the surrounding gas and dust in darker red, which will contribute to the formation of future stars.

NGC 3627 is a spiral galaxy that we observe from a slight angle. It is referred to as a “barred” spiral galaxy due to the distinct rectangular shape of its central region. In a post on Instagram, NASA wrote, “X-rays from Chandra in purple show evidence for a supermassive black hole in its center, while Webb finds the dust, gas, and stars throughout the galaxy in red, green, and blue. This image also contains optical data from NASAHubble in red, green, and blue.”

NASA said that MACS J0416 is a galaxy cluster, which are among the largest objects in the Universe held together by gravity. It added that galaxy clusters can contain hundreds or thousands of individual galaxies, all immersed in massive amounts of superheated gas. Describing the image, NASA in its post wrote, “Chandra’s X-rays in purple show this reservoir of hot gas, while Hubble and Webb show the individual galaxies in red, green, and blue.”

The post shared by NASA also gained netizens attention with one called a "beautiful AI” while some other called it gorgeous.

One user said, “Thanks a bunch for giving us a glimpse of space”

Some other added, “Absolutely breathtaking”

Another user commented, “so much to yet be discovered” while one user said, “space is so beautiful.”