Pan video: Infrared and optical image (Hubble and Webb)

This new Picture of the Month from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope features an astounding number of galaxies. The objects in this frame span an incredible range of distances, from stars within our own Milky Way, marked by diffraction spikes, to galaxies billions of light-years away. The star of this field is a group of galaxies, the largest concentration of which can be found just below the centre of this image. These galaxies glow with white-gold light. We see this galaxy group as it appeared when the Universe was 6.5 billion years old, a little less than half the Universe’s current age.

The image combines infrared data from both Webb and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, showcasing the galaxy cluster against a backdrop of thousands of other galaxies.