The European Space Agency (ESA) has released a stunning new image from its James Webb Space Telescope, which reveals the secrets of the ancient universe. The telescope captured a breathtaking view of galaxy cluster Abell S1063, 4.5 billion light-years away from Earth.
At the center of the image lies an enormous, bright-white elliptical galaxy, surrounded by a dense collection of galaxies and faint ones from the distant past. The warped arcs of light are caused by gravitational lensing, where the massive galaxy cluster bends and magnifies the light from these faraway galaxies.
This image is part of the GLIMPSE (#3293) observing programme, which aims to probe the period known as Cosmic Dawn, when the universe was only a few million years old. The telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) captured 9 separate snapshots in different near-infrared wavelengths, totaling around 120 hours of observing time.
The resulting image is a deep field, showcasing an incredible forest of lensing arcs and previously unseen features. This marks the deepest gaze on a single target to date for the James Webb Space Telescope.
Source: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2025/05/Webb_glimpses_the_distant_past