The mesmerizing beauty of the universe: Here are the best space photos captured in 2024

Throughout 2024, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captured images of many galaxies and stars in space.

Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide.

The observatory studies every phase in the history of our universe, from the first flickers of light after the Big Bang to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, and the evolution of our own Solar System.

Here are the unique images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope throughout 2024...

LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD

This image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope shows an H II region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.

Known as N79, this nebula is a region of ionized interstellar atomic hydrogen captured by Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).

NGC 2566 SPIRAL GALAXY

This galaxy captured by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope is NGC 2566, a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Puppis.

The image combines observations from two of Webb's instruments, the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), to show NGC 2566's well-defined spiral arms, its long central bar, and its delicate trails of gas, dust, and stars.

As NGC 2566 is considered a nearby galaxy at 76 million light-years away, it is an excellent target for studying fine details such as star clusters and gas clouds.

EI ZWİCKY 18 GALAXY

Located 59 million light-years from Earth, the galaxy was discovered in the 1930s.

BARRED SPIRAL GALAXY NGC 1559

Unlike an ordinary spiral galaxy, a barred spiral galaxy has a bar-shaped collection of stars at its center.

ARP 107 BLACK HOLE

An image of the quasar known as RX J1131-1231, located in the constellation Crater, approximately 6 billion light-years from Earth.

M104 BRIGHT GALAXY CORE

MESSİER 82

Messier 82 (M82), a starburst galaxy located 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.

DİGEL CLOUD 2S

Specific star-forming regions in the Extreme Outer Galaxy were studied in near- and mid-infrared light.

In this star-forming region known as Digel Cloud 2S, the telescope observed young, newly formed stars and their expanded jets of matter.

This Webb image also shows a dense sea of background galaxies and red nebular structures in the region.

ORION NEBULA

This image of the star-forming region NGC 604, taken with the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, shows how stellar winds from bright, hot young stars carve cavities in the surrounding gas and dust.

SPIRAL GALAXY NGC 2090

This image features the spiral galaxy NGC 2090, located in the constellation Columba.

This combination of data from Webb's MIRI and NIRCam instruments shows the galaxy's two spiral arms and the rotating gas and dust of its disk in spectacular and unique detail.